Sailor Moon: Devastation
by Doctor-T
Summary: After a horrific attack, Usagi is left powerless and traumatized. The sailor scouts are to be hunted to extinction by a new enemy - or is there more than one? Will any survive? Prepare for total war!
1. Chapter 1

_Heyo!_

_Welcome to 'Sailor Moon: Devastation', the very first story in my brand new, Sailor Moon/Love Hina crossover universe._

_This story is the 'T' rated version of 'Sailor Moon: Devastation'. This story touches on some mildly adult situations, which are essential to the progression of the storyline, but there is nothing too severe in it so it should be suitable for mature older teens._

_For any adult readers who are interested, some of the chapters in this story also have a 'M' version. To read these in place of the 'T' version chapters, click on the link in my profile, or search for the story 'Sailor Moon: D - The 'M' Version Chapters' on this website under, 'Sailor Moon stories – rated 'M'._

_This Chapter One also has a 'M' version. __WARNING:__ The 'M' version contains much more adult content, and it is suitable for Mature Readers only!_

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the other characters from the manga and anime series. That privilege belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. I do, however, own several of the other main characters in this story._

_Read and enjoy._

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**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION: THE 'T' VERSION  
**_**CHAPTER ONE**_

By Doctor-T

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It was a cool, autumn night in Tokyo, Japan. The silvery full moon was up, bathing the shadowy streets of night time Azabu-Juuban district in its unearthly, silvery radiance. It was nearly 9 pm on Friday night, and most of the inhabitants of the suburb were by now safely and comfortably tucked away inside their neatly painted and fenced houses, sheltered from the cool, gusty breeze that had sprung up within the last hour. Most of the inhabitants, but not all…

The soft moonbeams played down upon the running shape of a young, blonde schoolgirl, who was right this very moment speeding down one of the well-kept streets, her slender, long-legged figure intermittently being thrown into stark illumination by the yellow pools of light cast from the regularly spaced streetlamps, and also the occasional, glowing, house window. The girl was strikingly beautiful - even seen in a state of semi-panic like she was at that moment - with exquisite blue eyes framed by golden-blonde hair that had been tied into a bun on either side of her face. Two very long, blonde pigtails streamed out behind her like the twin contrails from a jet as she pounded down the pavement.

_My name is Usagi Tsukino, my friends call me Bunny. I'm a lazy, fifteen-year-old, Juuban Middle School student - and I especially hate doing homework! I should have done it before dinner, like Chibiusa-chan did. But I got distracted somehow, and now, am I paying for it! I'm really late meeting up with my friends, now. WAAAAH!"_

On and on Usagi berated herself for her laziness as she hared off up the road, passing a row of closed shops, before skidding to a halt before the entrance to a narrow alley between two multi-storeyed brick buildings. This was her usual shortcut to the Hikawa Shrine, where her friends were waiting, no doubt impatiently, for her belated – with emphasis on the '_late'-_ arrival.

Although both sides of the windswept alley were flanked by deep shadows, the centre of the lane was bathed for almost its entire visible length by the gentle radiance of the moon. In Usagi's present frenetic state of mind, the path ahead looked to be safe enough – she had used it many times before without incident – and doing so now would shave a whole ten minutes off her journey. So, without a further thought, she set off into the teeth of the cold breeze, albeit at a much slower pace than her precipitous dash down the much better lit street that she had just exited.

"_Why, oh why didn't I grab my jacket, too?"_ Usagi asked herself out loud, her teeth beginning to chatter as another gust of frigid wind blew through her blue-and-white colored, Juuban Middle School sailor-fuku uniform like it wasn't even there. "I _knew_ that I should've changed out of my school uniform into something _much_ warmer, but that manga I was reading was just reaching the interesting bit. _Brrrr!_ It's freezing in here! Man, I wish that Luna was here to warm me up!"

Normally Luna, her magical, black, talking cat, would have been accompanying her to the meeting, but this evening Luna and Artemis, Minako's white cat, had gone ahead with their kitten, Diana, to escort Chibiusa to the Hikawa Shrine almost an hour ago. Usagi herself was supposed to have gone at the same time with them. But, as she hadn't even started her homework at the time of their departure, her mother, Ikuko, had put her foot down firmly and made Usagi finish her schoolwork properly before she was allowed out to meet her friends – one whole hour later!

Usagi was now bitterly regretting her earlier tardiness. Not only could she have gladly done with Luna's company right now in this slightly spooky alley, but also snuggling warm cat fur would have helped to keep the icy chill of the wind off her chest. Not to mention that Luna's feline night vision would have been more than useful with helping her navigate through the deep, criss-crossing shadows of this seemingly never-ending alley. She certainly didn't want to stumble over an old tin can or whatnot in the darkness and do her ankle in!

Something clanked softly in the blackness, the faint, elusive sound snapping Usagi back to reality with a jolt. Coming to a nervous halt, she gazed warily around at her surroundings, but nothing could be seen in the black and now somewhat more menacing shadows that seemed to be pressing in on her from both sides. From whence had the sound come? She wasn't certain, but it sure sounded like it had been from behind her – and not too far away, at that!

Usagi gulped and broke out in a cold sweat. She was now definitely regretting her decision to take this particular shortcut at this time of night. She didn't feel nearly as brave as she had a few seconds ago, standing there all alone in the patches of light and inky-black shade cast by the towering, bare, brick walls of the buildings on both sides of the narrow alley. And now that she thought about it, Usagi could vaguely remember hearing something on the news about a spate of missing persons in the Juuban area recently. Alone in a dark alley, she was now wishing that she had paid more attention to the news item in question, rather than the manga that she had been reading at the time.

Quickening her step a little, Usagi hurried off up the alley at a faster pace, eager now to reach the bright lights of the main thoroughfare that she could see about one hundred metres in front of her.

As she approached the halfway point to safety, the anxious teen began to relax a little again, even to mentally laugh at herself for her irrational fear of the unknown in the gloom to her rear. Still, feeling that it was better to be safe than sorry, as Usagi continued to hurry along, she glanced over her shoulder back the way that she had come, just to be absolutely sure that no one was following her. To her great relief, nothing at all could be seen stirring in the moonlit silence behind her.

Usagi let out a heartfelt sigh of relief, and turned her face back towards the brightly lit street in front of her – just in time to see a huge, inky-black shadow detach itself from the blackness cast by a rubbish skip, stepping out directly in front of her! At the sudden shock of the shape's appearance, Usagi's heart froze and she felt her skin crawl with terror. Another second and she would have collided with the thing! Slamming to a halt, she turned to run, opening her mouth to emit a terrified scream for help!

But it was too late! The shadowy figure was suddenly right there behind her, one hand clamping down over her mouth, muffling the scream before it could be sounded, the other encircling Usagi's slim body, pinning her arms to her sides. The stale stink of alcohol assailed Usagi's delicate nostrils, and a gloating voice hissed into her right ear:

"Hello, Sweetie, I've been waiting for you! Don't scream now, we don't want any nosy parkers interrupting our little party now, do we?"

Then one of his rough hands was exploring her body, gripping and fondling and squeezing at the front of her top! Usagi's eyes were wide with panic as she struggled desperately to break his grip. Suddenly remembering her training from Luna, she stamped down hard with her right shoe, catching the stranger in the centre of his foot. He cursed in pain, then spun her about and punched her solidly on the point of her jaw. In the darkness of the alley she didn't even see the blow coming, so had no chance at all to dodge or block it. At the sudden, violent impact, Usagi's head snapped back, her eyes glazed over, and then she collapsed in a limp heap onto the concrete, stunned by the force of the brutal blow.

Quickly taking advantage of her temporary immobility, Usagi's sailor top was yanked upwards over her head and arms, and then the man clumsily bound her hands behind her back with her own bow tie strings. Clamping his big hand back over Usagi's mouth again, his other thick and heavily tattooed arm encircled her slender waist, and then the slim, semi-conscious teenage girl was dragged across the alley and dumped unceremoniously face-first onto an old mattress that had obviously been placed there for this very purpose.

Usagi regained control of her senses a few minutes later, just as she felt the drunken man rising back up off her. She whimpered in abject terror as she realised what her assailant had just finished doing to her body. And her hands were tied and her locket was gone – she could neither defend herself, nor change into Sailor Moon! There was nothing that she could do to protect herself against any further depredations from him!

Her blue eyes huge and all but blinded with tears of terror and shame, helpless Usagi began to cry out with fear and loss, muffled sobs choking out of her cruelly gagged mouth.

Her attacker then felt something cold and hard digging into his side, right where Usagi's bound hands were draped across her trembling back. Reaching down, he tore the object free and raised it up close to his face for a better look.

"Mmm," he mumbled, squinting at the object in the dim light. "Nice locket! I think I'll keep it as a pleasant little memento of our first happy meeting, Sweetie." He laughed callously, then abruptly stopped and cocked an ear towards a distant, though approaching sound.

"Damn! I think that I can hear the sirens of the long arm of the law coming this way? _Blast!_ Someone must have tipped off the cops, and just when it was getting _real_ interesting, too. Well, it's been fun, but I gotta go now. Until next time then, Sweetie! I'll be seeing you again. _Soon."_ And with that chilling comment, the shadowy man rose back to his not-too-steady feet, adjusted his clothing, and then disappeared off into the shadows. A sinister chuckle floated back to her straining ears, and then he was gone, swallowed by the frightful black night.

Twisting over onto her back, Usagi stared off with huge, panicked eyes in the direction that her brutal tormentor had gone. Then, once sure that he really _had _departed, the badly abused teenager tried to roll up onto her knees. Despite her entire body shivering uncontrollably with a combination of cold and fear, and feeling like nothing more than a single throbbing bruise, all that she could think of then was flight, to make it to her feet and to flee from this scene of terror. But then the horror of her terrifying ordeal finally overwhelmed her senses, she collapsed back onto the makeshift bed, her vision darkened and soothing darkness embraced her once again.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Barely twenty seconds after Usagi had succumbed to her abuse; a whirling cloud of blue flame suddenly spun out of nothingness in the centre of the moonlit alley, and a loud crackling sound split the air. Then, from the centre of the fading luminescence, stepped two tall, misshapen, semi-human beings, both glancing warily around their shadowy surroundings in case any unseen danger was awaiting their arrival. Sensing nothing to alarm them, the bizarre entities relaxed somewhat, and then began to look for their target.

"There she is," Zephyr the Youma gloated, eagerly pointing out Usagi's semi-naked, motionless form to the other shape. "It is over, the human criminal has been victorious!"

"_What?_ So this – _this -_ whimpering, pathetic young female is secretly Sailor Moon?" His companion gestured down at Usagi with disbelief. "The mighty Sailor Moon whom you claimed defeated Queen Beryl, Queen Metallia and the entire Dark Kingdom, Zephyr?"

"Supposedly, yes," that worthy smugly agreed.

"_Well, just look at her now?_ Reduced to a blubbering, half-naked wreck by a mere human criminal! _Pfahg!" _The creature spat down at his clawed feet with contempt. "If she was _this_ easy to beat, then we should have just killed her ourselves, months ago!"

"Yes, our plan worked fine," the first monster admitted, surprise in his voice that the enemy they had believed to be a fearsome foe had been defeated so easily. "But you are right, even a drunken human has managed to overpower her, even if the overindulgent fool did leave her alive. _Hmpf!_ She wasn't even worth the time and effort we expended to set all of this up!"

The other Youma, Yaadrig, bared its fangs. "Well, shall we kill her, ourselves? Yeah, let's kill her, right now!"

Zephyr looked down upon Usagi's unconscious body with loathing. For a second, he was solely tempted to agree with his bloodthirsty partner, but then an evil thought came into his mind, and he stayed his companion's clawed hand.

"No, without her locket, she's finished. The mighty Sailor Moon is just another weak, helpless human, now. Besides, if you kill her, it'll just spare her the further suffering from her assault here tonight. And I want her to suffer, for all of our brother spirits that she has killed over the last few months."

"Good point," the scowling Yaadrig conceded. "This weakling can't stop us now. Let's leave her here to rot! Come, let us go tell our allies that she will plague us, and them, no more."

"Yes, without Sailor Moon, the other Sailor Soldier scum will now be much easier for us to eliminate," Zephyr agreed. "As of this moment, we will commence jamming the Sailor Scouts' communicators, and then begin picking them all off, one-by-one."

"Hey, Zephyr, I've just had a deliciously foul idea about further torture for this miserable girl! Just suppose the human criminal who just took her, finds out where she-?"

With a flare of smoky flame they vanished again, abruptly cutting the Youma's words off in mid-sentence.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"I'll bet you that _Odango_ _Head_ forgot all about our study group tonight, and went down to the Crown to play video games, instead," Rei Hino complained to her companions as they strolled down the street towards Usagi's parents' house. "We've been waiting for her for over an hour, and she _still _hasn't showed up. It'd be just like her to ditch us for some fun!"

"That's well within the realms of possibility, Rei," Luna conceded, from where she was riding on Ami Mizuno's left shoulder.

"That's a little mean, Luna," Ami protested. "Maybe something came up, and she had to make a detour or something?"

"That something wouldn't happen to be a certain young man by the name of Mamoru, would it?" Luna scoffed, absolutely sure of her ground as far as Usagi's bad habits were concerned. "And this so-called 'detour' wouldn't have led directly to his apartment, by any chance?"

"Luna," Artemis the white cat spoke up from where he was resting in Minako Aino's arms. _"Lighten up, will you?_ You _know_ Usagi said that she was coming directly over as soon as her homework was done. Rei called her house, and her father confirmed that she left for the shrine in a hurry over an hour ago. She didn't arrive, so something must have happened to her."

"And I tried phoning Mamoru-san's apartment, as well," Rei stated. "There was no answer, so she's definitely not there."

Minako laughed. "Well, my bet is still on her and Mamoru-san off in a cozy little karaoke room somewhere, in a secret, passion-filled embrace behind the table! When cupid's arrow strikes, you can only go with the flow…! _Ahhh!"_ Her blue eyes filled with sparkles.

"_Minako!"_ Artemis pleaded. _"Get serious."_

"Maybe Minako-chan's right, guys?" the tall, ponytailed Makoto Kino sighed, ignoring Artemis's protest. "If I had a dreamy guy like that hankering for a hot time with me, that's what I'd be doing right now, too!"

"Not on study night," Ami declared firmly. "Work first, then play! Right, Luna?"

"_Hear, hear,"_ Usagi's black cat enthusiastically agreed. "And you agree with Ami and myself, too, don't you, Rei?"

"Yeah…well, sometimes I wouldn't mind meeting up with a hot guy for a hot date in secret, too," that worthy admitted, clasping her hands together under her chin with a wistful, starry look in her violet eyes.

"But what about Yuichiro-san?" the others chorused in accusing tones.

"_Yuichiro-kun?_ He's fine in his way, but sometimes, he…well, _ah-?_ Well…yeah, I suppose that he _is _fine-! Okay, okay, I already have a hunk! I'm sorry!" A big bead of sweat showed on Rei's forehead at being caught out. "You're right, I admit it…!"

Everybody laughed at her discomfort, and Rei's embarrassed blush grew even deeper as they continued on their way.

"Hey, this is the alley that Bunny-chan usually takes as a shortcut when she's late, which means that she's in here for most of every day," Chibiusa suddenly told them, halting alongside the alley entrance to stare off along its gloomy depths, the odd gust of cold wind swirling out from its cavernous brick framed entrance stirring at her pink hair and sending a chill across her exposed face. "That Bunny-chan, she's never on time for anything!"

"Do you think that she went this way tonight?" Artemis asked, staring off down the chilly, shadow-lined lane.

"I dunno, it looks to be awfully cold, dark and gloomy in there," Chibiusa said in an undecided tone. "But knowing Bunny-chan, probably! Sometimes she just jumps into situations without even thinking."

"But anyone or anything could be hiding down there at night, and no-one would ever know…!" Makoto said, her voice trailing off in alarm. Everyone stared at her, then at each other.

"We'd better check it out," Artemis declared, a trace of worry now clearly discernable in his voice.

"Yes, I think that we'd better," Luna agreed, no less alarmed by Makoto's implication. "Come on, let's go!" Jumping off Ami's shoulder, she raced off down the shadowy alley, the others close behind her.

"Hey, there's something lying on the concrete up ahead," Artemis called out anxiously, his night vision working overtime as he and Luna bounded down the alley, well ahead of the others. "On the right hand side there…something pale…?"

"I see it," Luna replied, vaulting an old car tire. "It's…it's…_Oh, Kami-sama! Usagi! Usagi! Artemis, she's not moving! She's been hurt!"_

"_Bunny! Bunny!" _Chibiusa screamed in panic, flinging herself on to her motionless relative's body and shaking her hard. _"Say something! Oh, why are her hands tied? Somebody please save her!"_

As the others all dropped to their knees around Usagi's prostrate, unmoving form, eyes wet with tears and shouting in alarm, Minako and Ami quickly took charge. Kneeling at Usagi's side, they quickly checked her over, as Makoto and Rei tried their best to comfort the tearful Chibiusa. Artemis and Luna moved back from the press of their charges, knowing that Usagi was in competent hands, Minako being a trained paramedic and Ami with her wide knowledge of medical procedures gained from her study for Medical School.

"_She's got a pulse and she's still breathing,"_ Minako yelled out with noticeable relief, having seen and dealt with a number of similar situations before during her previous incarnation as Sailor V. Her fingers flew as she untied Usagi's bound hands. "But she's freezing cold! Where are her clothes?"

"Over there," Artemis called out, spotting the crumpled, scattered garments lying forlornly on the other side of the alley.

"I'll get them," Rei offered, tears streaming from her eyes. _"Oh, Bunny-chan! Why did this have to happen to you?"_

"Everybody, Bunny-chan's not seriously hurt, she's just passed out from her ordeal," Ami finally declared with a loud sigh of relief, echoed by all of the other girls. "The reason that she's so cold is because of the wind chill factor on her bare skin. But I think that she's – that she's been_ sexually assaulted."_

"_Yeah," _Minako whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she agreed with her friend's diagnosis. "Thank god that she's still alive!"

The other girls gasped out in horror, and Chibiusa burst out in tears again, cradling her face in Makoto's lap. _"Bunny! Bunny!"_

"Makoto, take Chibiusa-chan away from there. She doesn't need to know about this," Luna called out tearfully – advice that Makoto obeyed with alacrity. "Artemis?"

"Yes, Luna?"

"Usagi lost her locket, and I can't find it anywhere!"

"I know. _This is bad…!"_

Quickly, the little group clad the still unconscious Usagi in her clothes once again, plus Ami's thick jacket. Then they set out trying to keep her warm, and revive her at the same time.

"_Oh, that poor, poor girl,"_ Luna wept, turning to Artemis for comfort. After a momentary cuddle, he then stepped back and spoke up.

"Luna, pull yourself together! This is upsetting for me as well. But we've got to find out all we can about what happened to her, _right now,_ before the scent of whoever did it fades away," Artemis firmly told her.

"I – you're right, as always. Wait a minute…is that _whiskey_ I can smell?"

"Yes, right over here. See that empty bottle? I suspect that whoever did this must have left it here when he departed."

"_So a drunk did this to poor Usagi?" _Luna growled, ears flat against her skull with fury.

"Looks like it…"

"Do you think that you can track him down, Artemis?" Luna asked angrily as her feline companion sniffed deeply at the bottle, whilst wrinkling his nose with distaste at the strong stench of the raw liquor. "He's going to pay for what he did to her, I promise you that!"

"_Maybe._ Some of his normal human smell is still on the bottle where he was holding it. I may be able to track the odor of his footsteps for awhile, but I'm not a dog, Luna."

"Just do your best," she urged him. Walking over to her partner, Luna sniffed at the evidence as well. "Yes, it's faint, but noticeable all right. It's a lead for us to follow, anyway." Turning, Luna began to trot further down the moonlight-splashed lane, her nose to the ground.

"Come on, Slowcoach, his trail leads down this way – _hold on!"_ she suddenly hissed, arching her back at the repugnant scent of ozone still lingering in the cool air. "Artemis, do you smell that?"

"Yeah," the white cat replied, his fur standing on end as he unconsciously unsheathed his claws. "I recognize it, too."

"_Youma...!"_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi, and welcome to Chapter Two._

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**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION: THE 'T' VERSION**  
**_CHAPTER TWO_**

By Doctor-T

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"I just don't understand how this could have happened," Makoto fumed, clenching her fists, her eyes tearing with rage. "Usagi-chan is the kindest, gentlest, warmest-hearted person in the whole world! How could anybody do this to her?"

"Unfortunately, not everyone in the world thinks the same as us, Mako-chan," Ami sobbed in Rei's arms, her head on her friend's shoulder. "There are some pretty darn mean people out there, and they just don't think right_…'sniff'._"

"I still think that we should have taken her to the hospital, guys," Makoto stated for the umpteenth time. "Minako-chan, I know that you have had paramedic training, and when you and Ami-chan checked her out, all she had was a few cuts and bruises. But she was just _raped, _for god's sake! She should be in a hospital bed, not here at the shrine with us!"

"I agree, Mako-chan. But you heard what Bunny-chan said, just as well as we did, when she finally came to. She said that she didn't want us to call an ambulance, or take her there for a check-up," Rei reminded her friend, her violet eyes downcast. "She was afraid that her parents would find out, and that they wouldn't let her go out at night, any more – and being Sailor Moon, that's one thing that she _has_ to be able to do! Ditto for us calling the police about it, too. I hate to admit it, but Bunny-chan had a point! In fact, about the only thing that's even remotely good about this whole sorry incident is that when her attacker took her, she wasn't seriously physically hurt."

"What do you mean, Rei-chan?" Minako asked, her voice rising. "We both saw that she…_oh? _I…see what you mean..."

Ami blushed furiously at her friends' words, and then spoke up in agreement. "Yes, that's true, thank goodness! Bunny-chan didn't need to be taken to hospital for surgery, or anything like that."

"_Thank you, brain-box Ami,"_ Makoto growled out in frustration, fixing her three friends with a glare. "And you other two aren't helping, either! Bunny-chan was still abused, you know, nothing else matters! Instead of arguing over how serious it was, I suggest that we all sit down and discuss exactly how we are going to find the scum who did this to her, and exactly what method of torture we are going to use on him, or them, when we do find the culprit! Well? Any ideas?"

"Mako-chan, I'm sorry. I was just-!"

Makoto sighed, and then interrupted her friend's abashed words. "No, Ami-chan, I'm sorry for speaking to you like that. I'm at fault, not you. It's just…it's just that I'm just so frustrated at this whole senseless incident. Bunny-chan's been seriously violated, and there's nothing, nothing that I can do at the moment to avenge her!" She slammed a hard fist down onto the table with a bang, sending the teacups bouncing and dancing across its surface. _"I want to take away Bunny's pain, and I can't!"_

Minako leant over and hugged her friend. "So do I. All of us do, Mako-chan," she said quietly, Rei and Ami nodding agreement to her words. "But at the moment we don't even know who was responsible, let alone where he or they are."

"Yeah, that's a good point, Minako-chan," Rei agreed. "So, what are we going to do about it, guys?"

"Despite what Bunny-chan wants, maybe we _should_ just leave it up to the local police?" Ami suggested. "All of the evidence points to this being just a random drunken sex attack on a girl who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." She frowned, then added, "All except one piece of evidence, that is…"

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?" Makoto asked, raising her head up from Minako's shoulder to stare at her blue-haired, genius friend.

"Luna and Artemis sensed the presence of a Youma in the area, tonight, just after the attack, remember?"

"What? Are you suggesting that a _Youma_ did this to Bunny-chan?" the incredulous Makoto burst out.

"Yeah, is that even possible?" Minako added, leaning forward, her blue eyes wide with surprise. "That's some departure from their usual _modus operadi_ – usually all they want to do is to kill us!"

"I'm not sure about any of this – but there _could_ be a connection."

"If it is true, then we _can't_ go to the police," Rei stated, frowning as she thought Ami's theory through. "If it is a Youma responsible, the police would never be able to find it – unless it wanted to be found. And even if they did, they'd be no match for it, at all – not even close! So, that means-?"

The four sailor senshi looked at each other, and nodded soberly.

"Yes, that means it's going to have to be up to us."

"_All right!"_ Makoto growled, eyes shining in anticipation at finally having a plan of action. "And when I've finished frying its ass into charcoal, there won't be enough of it left to cover a postage stamp!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

Still shedding silent tears, Luna waited until the distraught Chibiusa had finally managed to fall asleep in the bed next to the comatose Usagi, with Luna Ball P, Chibusa's robotic cat's-head toy, hovering protectively over their slumbering bodies. The sight brought a lump to her throat - they looked so peaceful lying there, almost as if nothing untoward had happened that night, at all. _And, if only that had been so…?_

Luna sniffed loudly to clear her blocked nose, rose to her feet in a fluid movement and padded out of the room, down the hallway, and into the large meeting room, wherein waited the other sailor senshi.

They all rose to their feet as she entered, anxious voices raised in query about Usagi's present well being.

"As far as I can tell, she's as well as can be expected under the circumstances," Luna replied in her best maternal tone. "And no, you can't go in to talk to her yet, she's still sleeping. Chibiusa has only just fallen asleep now, as well, so the best possible thing that we all can do at the moment is to let them both sleep undisturbed until the morning."

"Luckily, tomorrow's Saturday, so Usagi has no school to be late to go to. Rei, I suggest that you phone up their mother, Ikuko, and let her know that both Usagi and Chibiusa will be staying here at the shrine, tonight. They said that they might be going to, anyway, if our study session went on too late, so it won't come as too much of a surprise to her."

"Right, Luna. I'm onto it, right now." Jumping up from her seat, Rei hurried from the room towards the telephone in the kitchen area, so as to not disturb the flow of her friends' conversation.

"Now, has there been any word from Artemis, yet?"

"Not yet," Minako replied. "I still think that one of us should have gone with him. Maybe I should go look for him?"

"No, I don't want any of you scouts going out on your own – especially since we don't know for sure whether that Youma we sensed earlier is still on the loose out there," Luna decided, with finality. "And if anyone does go out for any reason, it has to be in pairs, for safety's sake."

"Fine, fine," Makoto said in an impatient tone. "But I still think that we should be out there, right now, hunting for the person or thing that hurt Bunny-chan!"

"There will be plenty of time for that, once Artemis tracks the culprit down - if that four left-footed old fleabag hasn't already been distracted by a discarded can of day-old salmon, that is," Luna sighed in mock criticism of her partner. "What we should all do now is get some sleep and conserve our strength. Can somebody tell me the time, now, please?"

"It's about ten, Luna," Ami answered, consulting her watch.

"Are we going to set a guard duty roster, in case this _was_ a youma attack?" Rei asked, walking back to her seat on the couch, next to Makoto. "By the way, Bunny-chan's Mom said that she appreciates the call, and that it's fine for them to both stay over here, tonight."

"Thank you, and yes, very perceptive, Rei," Luna agreed. "Well, girls, there's five of us here, and ten hours until morning. That makes it easy. Now to save arguing, I'll take the second-to-last watch, from Four until Six o'clock. I know that none of you will want to be up that early – not even you, Rei."

"Well, then I'll take the Six to Eight o'clock shift," Rei decided. "I have to get up at that time, anyway, to help do the chores with Yuichiro."

"And I'll do the Two to Four o'clock shift. I'm used to being up at those hours from when I was Sailor V," Minako offered. "Just don't ask me to get up before Ten o'clock, afterwards, okay?"

Everyone managed a chuckle at her words. "Well, that just leaves you, and me, Ami-chan," Makoto stated. "I doubt that I'm going to be able to sleep, so why don't you and I sit up together? You just go to bed whenever you feel like it, and I'll stay up until Minako–chan's watch, okay?"

"Yes, that's fine with me," Ami decided. "I'd like to wait up until Artemis gets back, anyway. I'd be very interested in hearing what he's found out, if anything."

"Fine, then. That's all settled. Good. Now, where's Diana?" Luna asked, looking around for her tiny daughter. "It's way past time that she went to bed, as well. _Diana! Where are you?"_

"She isn't in here, Luna," Ami stated with certainty. "I haven't seen her since she walked through the room after Chibiusa-chan fell asleep. What about you, Rei-chan? Is she in the kitchen, sitting by the refrigerator, again?"

"No. Last that I saw of her, she was sitting over there by the door, about ten minutes ago… _Uh, oh!_ Hey, do you think that she could have possibly-?"

" - Gone out to look for Artemis on her own?" Ami finished off for her, realisation dawning in her eyes, as well. "Yes, it's very likely."

"_Oh, for goodness sake,"_ Luna burst out, her voice thick with worry. "Makoto, Minako, it looks like you're both going to get your wish to go searching, after all. I'll come with you, too, and when we find Diana, I'm going to give her a piece of my mind, I'm telling you that, right now!"

"What about Ami-chan and me, Luna?" Rei asked. "Do you want us to go out as a search team, too? That way, we could cover twice as much ground in the same amount of time, or less."

"Good thinking, Rei, but no. It'd be best if you two stayed here for the present, to look after Usagi and Chibiusa, just in case her mystery assailant somehow knows that she's here and comes back for a second try," Luna decided, thinking fast. "Usagi's in no shape to defend herself if it _was_ a Youma who attacked her, especially since she's lost her locket! Rei, could you let Yuichiro and Grandpa know that there might be trouble? Ami, can you set up your computer – if you haven't already - for an automatic security scan of the entire shrine grounds – an early warning system is just what we need, right now. And everyone is to keep in touch with your communicators at all times. Makoto, Minako and I will be back as fast as we can."

Rising to her feet, Luna leapt off the couch onto the floor, and lashed her tail in annoyance_. As if we all didn't have enough to worry about, now, as it is?_ She thought to herself. _Children!_

"Okay, Scouts, let's roll!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

"You should have seen the way that she looked on that mattress after I'd taken her clothes off," Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda gloated to his tall drinking companion, his eyes shining with lust. "I swear that she was the best piece of sexy, curvy young schoolgirl that I've caught in a long time, if ever!" He sighed regretfully, and then added, "If only the cops hadn't showed up, right then, I'd have had a most enjoyable second ride on her, as well. But I heard a siren coming real close, so I thought that I'd best skedaddle in case it was coming my way and I got cornered in that alley. Wouldn't want to get caught with my pants down, so to speak."

"Bad luck, C.M," his companion and close friend, Nao 'Nampa' Konno, commiserated with him. "So, do you think that you'd recognize the girl again if you saw her on the street?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. She had a very distinctive hairstyle – long blonde hair in two braids that must have reached almost to her feet, standing up. She had legs up to _here,_ and she was wearing a blue, Juuban School uniform, I think? Boy, I tell you, I'm sorely tempted to track her down again to complete my session. I sure wouldn't mind having seconds, thirds, fourths and even fifths with her, know what I mean? And on a daily basis, too!"

"_Lucky Asshole,"_ 'Nampa' muttered back, in an aggrieved tone_._ "Hey, instead of being greedy, maybe you could bring her back here this time, and share her around with the rest of us? After what you just told me, I'm busting a nut, now, myself, to try her out."

C.M. Oda laughed at his friend's expression. "Yeah, 'Nampa', you wish! But I don't even know where she lives, except that it's somewhere near that alley in Juuban."

"Hey, I've just had an idea, if you can find her again. If she _does _prove to be as enjoyable in the sack, as you claim she was, then we could make a stack of money off her, renting her out to some of our customers in one of our higher-class downtown establishments, or even upstairs, here."

"That's a fact," the first yakuza conceded, looking thoughtful. "Hmmm? Yeah…we could set her up in a private room, out back, and have our own little blonde gold mine!"

The two tattooed gangsters stood silently for a few moments, busily draining their beer mugs. Then the second man spoke up in a puzzled tone of voice.

"Hey, C.M. I've got one little thing nagging at my mind. How come you were down that alley in Juuban in the first place? It isn't on your usual route here. How come you made such a wide – though lucky – detour, anyway?"

His companion shrugged. "You probably aren't gonna believe this, 'Nampa', old buddy, but earlier on tonight, this tall stranger in a hat and long coat, he comes up to me, see, and buys me a beer. Then he tells me about this really pretty girl who likes to walk through that alley at night, on her way both to and from her house, and that I ought to wait there for her tonight if I was looking for some hot action." He grinned. "Well, I sure was! And he was right! I'd only been waiting there a few minutes when along she comes. So I grabbed her, and you know the rest."

"This stranger, you seen him before, anywhere?" 'Nampa' asked hopefully. "Maybe he can give _me_ some tips on where to hang out to get some sweet young stuff?"

'Cream Man' Oda grinned, knowing well the penchant for chasing after girls that had given his tall friend his nickname. "Well, he _did_ look vaguely familiar. Maybe he's been in the bar here before, I dunno? But now that I think about it, there _was_ one thing funny about the guy – he had a tail."

"A tail?" The other yakuza chuckled out loud. "That's pretty insane, C.M! Come on, it must have just been the skinful of whiskey that you'd already had, making you think that?"

"No, I swear, he had a tail. A reddish one, hanging down from the back of his coat. I was too interested in getting to that alley to pay much attention to it at the time, though. Ah, _forget it._ Come on, I'm thirsty. I'll buy you another drink to celebrate my lucky strike!"

The two tattooed ruffians roared with laughter, then they both rose from their seats to head off towards the bar and another round of drinks.

In an almost uncontrollable white-hot rage, and only just resisting the temptation to pounce onto the man's head and tear his eyes out of their sockets with his avenging claws, Artemis jumped down from the shadowy tree that overhung the window next to the table in the smoky bar that the two men had been using. Ears flat against his skull, he scooted off up the road in the direction of the Hikawa Shrine.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"I'm hungry," Minako told Makoto as they strode down a nearly deserted side street, a couple of blocks away from the shrine, on their way down into the entertainment district of Juuban. Luna had sent them both to check the surrounding streets, while she returned to Usagi's parents house, just on the off chance that Diana had, for some obscure reason, also gone back there. "If we're going to be out searching for who knows how long," Minako continued, "Maybe we had better grab ourselves a few snacks to keep our energy up?"

"Hey, but you already ate all of my biscuits, earlier, while we were waiting for Bunny-chan to arrive, Minako-chan," Makoto protested, looking with disbelief at her lip-licking friend. "I'm glad that you enjoyed them, but you're as bad as Bunny, always thinking about your stomach."

"And you're _not_ hungry, Mako-chan?" the blond countered with a chuckle, a cold gust of wind blowing strands of her golden hair across her face as she spoke. "I happen to know that you didn't have time for dinner, tonight, either – that's why you brought all of those yummy biscuits to eat."

"Yeah, and thanks to you, I only got to have one of them! Oh, all right, you win! We'll stop off for a snack break at that shop on the corner. Maybe with fuller stomachs, we can stay focused on finding Artemis and Diana a little easier?"

"_Yesss!_ Good call!"

The girls reached the corner, Minako running across to look into the store window, while Makoto leant back against a power pole, arms folded across her chest, to wait and keep an eye open in case Diana or Artemis should, by chance, pass that way.

"Yay! They're still open," Minako enthused, and then turned to holler across the street to her tall, impatient-looking friend. "_Hey, Mako-chan, what would you like to eat? I'm buying, for you being such a good sport!"_

"_Thanks! A bag of crisps, a diet soda and a big biscuit, if they have any?"_

"_Gotcha! I'll only be a minute! You can buy them for us, next time!"_

"_Grrr! I knew there had to be a catch!"_

As Minako disappeared into the store, Makoto sighed, then cracked the knuckles of her right hand with the palm of her left. _This food idea was a good one,_ she decided silently to herself. _It'll give me added energy to pound whoever raped Bunny-chan, when I finally catch up to him, or it. And I will, as soon as we find Diana._

But it was not Diana who unexpectedly showed up just then, it was Artemis. He came flying out of the shadows, up the sloping street towards her, tail bristling, and with an angry look on his face. However, his expression quickly changed to one of relief as he spotted her.

"_Artemis?"_ Makoto gasped out in surprise, losing her relaxed posture fast as she noticed his agitation. _"What's going on?"_

"_Makoto, thank goodness,"_ the cat panted, coming to a screeching halt in front of her. "I've found the man who raped Usagi! He's five blocks away, at the 'Happy Hour' Bar, with a friend! I overheard them discussing it only a few minutes ago!"

"_What?"_ Makoto yelled, a furious expression twisting at her pretty face. _"He's boasting about it? I'm going to go down there, and-!"_

"No, wait here," Artemis puffed, in a serious tone. "For some strange reason, none of our wristwatch communicators seem to be working at the moment. So I have to go up to the shrine, on foot, to inform the others! Don't make a move until we get back!" And with that, he raced off up the lamp-lit street again, before Makoto could say another word.

Not that Makoto felt like saying another word. Now that she knew where Usagi's assailant was, and that he was a man, not a monster – although that last fact was debatable, if he had done this horrible thing to her poor friend – she was in no mood to do anything except extract her revenge on him, in person. Overcome by a blinding rage, forgetting Artemis's instructions to her – even forgetting that she was just then supposed to be waiting for Minako - she turned and ran off down the street in the direction that Artemis had come from.

"_Here I am, Mako-chan!"_ Minako called out cheerily as she emerged from the shop door a couple of minutes later, arms laden with a large bag of goodies. _"They had the Jumbo-sized Chock-Buster Cookies, so I bought you an extra-large one to…huh?"_

Almost dropping her tasty load of snacks with surprise, Minako stared across the street to where her friend should have been waiting for her. Running across the road, she first looked to her left, and then to her right, back up the street in the direction of the shrine, but Makoto was nowhere to be seen.

"That's strange? She must have gone ahead of me. Maybe she saw something? I'd best catch up to her – but not before I get to eat this yummy big cookie!" With that, Minako jogged off in the direction in which they both had been travelling before, removing the plastic from Makoto's 'Chock-Buster' biscuit with a sly grin on her face as she went. "What Mako-chan doesn't know, won't hurt her…_heh, heh!"_


	3. Chapter 3

_Hi, all, and welcome to Chapter Three._

_There's action aplenty in this chapter, folks!_

_This Chapter also has a 'M' version under 'Sailor Moon: D - The 'M' Version Chapters' ._

_WARNING: The 'M' version contains more adult content and it is suitable for Mature Readers only!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION: THE 'T' VERSION  
**_**CHAPTER THREE**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

As she approached the 'Happy Hour' bar, Makoto quickly slowed down from her headlong rush, and then came to a complete stop, staring across the still busy street at her destination. Despite her anger, she wasn't stupid. The tall, pony-tailed schoolgirl knew that she might need all of her strength, and in a hurry, too, if she was to go in as herself through the doors of the brightly-lit bar, right there in front of her. But, if she was to enter the bar as Sailor Jupiter-?

_Okay, I'm here,_ she thought to herself as she regained her breath. _I'd best transform, right now, before I go in. Then I can get down to some serious butt-kicking for poor Bunny-chan!_

As Makoto looked around, she noticed that on the left-hand side of the 'Happy Hour' bar was a small park, with mature trees, flower beds and manicured lawns – no hiding place there for her to transform into Sailor Jupiter. But as she looked towards the right-hand side of the three-storied building, her green eyes fell on the entrance to a service alley that led between the noisy bar and the next neon-illuminated building. "Perfect!" she hissed out with satisfaction. "I can transform in there, where no one can see me. I sure don't want to blow my secret identity in public, do I?"

After waiting impatiently for a gap in the bustling traffic, Makoto hurried across the street, then merged with the scattering of pedestrians on the sidewalk. Choosing her moment carefully, she then slipped into the alley when she was absolutely sure that the coast was clear. Eyes and ears alert, Makoto made her way further along the access way until she reached a shadowy spot behind a large rubbish skip, where she couldn't be seen from the busy road.

"This will do just fine," Makoto decided with satisfaction. Her fingernails on her right hand flickered with light and her Henshin stick materialized into the palm of her hand. "All right! _Jupiter Star Power, Make Up!"_

Instantly, a powerful bolt of lightning ripped down from the sky to engulf her, and a halo of crackling multicoloured energy surrounded her spinning body. Waves of sparking electrical current washed over Makoto Kino, supercharging her, invigorating her, making her strong! Her outfit changed, her golden tiara appeared on her forehead, Makoto's strength doubled, and then doubled again. And finally, the ropes of white-hot current orbiting her sailor-suited body dissolved away into a huge strobe flash of random electrons, and Sailor Jupiter stood there in all of her youthful power and beauty.

By now, the just-transformed Makoto was feeling a twinge of conscience at leaving Minako-chan behind so precipitately. Minako-chan would have certainly wanted to be there with her, as Sailor Venus, ready, willing and able to help punish Usagi's attacker for his transgressions. And it _would_ be wise to have backup before she went in – just in case. Restraining her urge to barge straight into the building with an effort of willpower, the angry girl resolved to remain outside the bar until her tardy friend had managed to catch up to her. Luckily, this building was on the street that they had both intended to walk along, anyway. With that thought in mind, Sailor Jupiter began to move off back towards the alley mouth to keep a hidden watch out for her, no-doubt, soon to be approaching friend.

However, at that very moment, the sound of a pair of male voices came to Makoto's keen ears. Quickly she flattened herself against the outside brick wall of the building, as a precaution against any of the customers inside the bar looking out of a window into the dark alley and seeing her. It was then that Sailor Jupiter realized that by secretly listening in on their muffled conversation, she might - if she was lucky - be able to find out just who was in the bar, without actually having to physically enter it yet.

Wasting no time, Sailor Jupiter quickly moved across to where the illuminated window offered a view into the building. But, to her disappointment, she wasn't quite tall enough to see into the room beyond, even standing on tiptoes. But, from her new location, she could still clearly hear what the two men were saying in there, so she leaned her shoulder comfortably against the wall, ready to listen carefully to their unsuspecting conversation. Maybe one of them would unwittingly say something that would give her a clue as to just whom she was looking for?

"Hey, did you see that big flash of light out here a minute ago?" one of the hidden men asked. "What _was_ that?"

"Yeah, I saw it," A second deep voice replied. "Probably sheet lightning, I'd say. The weatherman said that there was a chance of rain, later on tonight."

"Ah, forget it. Hey, about that girl in the alley that you were telling me about, C.M. Do ya think that she's been discovered, yet?"

"_What?"_ Sailor Jupiter gasped silently to herself, jerking her head upwards with surprise, unable to fully believe that she had stumbled upon Usagi's attacker, quite _this_ easily. "_What did he just say? Are these two guys the ones that Artemis was talking about? Calm down, Makoto, you've got to hear more so that you're absolutely sure-!"_

"Dunno. But I think that maybe I took off just a little too soon, damn it! Now that I think about it, that siren I heard could've been heading off in any damn direction. If I'd stuck around just a little longer until I was absolutely sure, I probably could've had another piece of her, right then-and-there."

_It is him! I've found him, the cruel piece of scum!_

"But it could be a stroke of luck for me, if she hasn't been found yet," the voice continued. "It's probably too late for me to go back there for some more, now, but if it does rain, that'll help to wash away any DNA evidence that would prove that I was ever there."

The two hidden men laughed, and at the sound of their hilarity, Makoto's temper snapped. _I can't take this any more! He abused poor Bunny-chan, and now they're both laughing at what happened to her? You callous bastards! I'm gonna kick your collective asses!_

Totally forgetting her resolve to wait for Minako-chan in the heat of the moment, Sailor Jupiter flexed her legs and dived headlong up through the partially open window above her, taking the sash and most of the frame with her as she burst into the bar room in a shower of glass. The two men yelled out in alarm as they leapt backwards away from the exploding window, throwing up their tattooed arms to ward off the flying shards of razor-sharp glass. Rolling once, Sailor Jupiter made it back onto her feet, totally unharmed by her impact with the window, and then turned back with fury towards the two shocked, open-mouthed men.

The previously rowdy, music-filled room was now so silent that even a pin dropping would have caused an echo. The crowd of customers and yakuza inside all just stood or sat there, frozen in place, watching the totally unexpected confrontation that was about to take place in their midst.

"_Okay, which one of you two piles of scum hurt my friend?"_ she yelled out, inoblivious to all else but her intended targets. "You tell me, _right now_, or I'll pound you into tomato paste, and _then_ you'll tell me!"

"Who the hell are you, Toots?" 'Nampa' Konno growled out, eyeing up the furious, but very beautiful girl in the green-and-white, pink-ribboned sailor suit, standing aggressively there before him. She was quite tall for a schoolgirl, too, maybe five foot six in height? "And you'd best keep a civil tongue in your head, Sweet-stuff! Don't you know where you are?"

"I don't _care_ where I am," Sailor Jupiter snapped back, not intimidated in the slightest by the pair of large men glowering at her. "If one of you two clowns doesn't tell me what I want to know, _right now_, I'm going to treat you both as equally guilty! Last chance!"

"You've got a big mouth for someone still in school," 'C.M.' Oda declared, stepping forward and trying hard to keep his eyes from dropping below the shortest green mini-skirt that he had ever seen, to eye up her long, smooth and slender legs. "Or are you off to a fancy dress party in that outfit, Cutie? Doesn't matter, you sure do look good in it."

His speaking up was a big mistake, for it drew Sailor Jupiter's attention away from 'Nampa' Konno, to him. As Makoto's eyes fell upon the object that Oda was holding in his right hand, she let out a horrified gasp of surprise.

"That's Usagi-chan's locket! _You bastard! It was you who abused her!"_

"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't?" he told her smugly. "But, Sweetness, you are sure as hell going to find out once I get my hands on you. We've got a way of dealing with feisty girls like you, in the Black Cap Yakuza."

"_And I've got a way of dealing with you!"_ Leaping forward, Sailor Jupiter swung a powerful right-handed punch towards the head of Usagi's tormentor!

Taken by surprise at the suddenness of the costumed girl's attack, 'Cream Man' only just managed to dodge the full force of the blow, that, if it had landed with its intended power, would have nearly taken his head clean off his shoulders! Still, the force behind the punch was enough to spin him clean around and drop him flat on his back on the broken-glass-covered wooden floor. The locket he had stolen from Usagi sailed out of his grasp and through the shattered window, to clatter onto the concrete in the dark alley beyond.

_Damn! That girl's strong!_ Oda thought to himself, feeling gingerly at his throbbing jaw. _I can't believe that she actually put me down…!_

'Nampa' Konno leapt in to restrain the sailor-suited girl, only to be seized in an unbelievably strong grip and sent sailing across the smoky room and across a tabletop, sweeping it clean of glasses, bottles and ashtrays, before falling unceremoniously into the laps of the three startled men who were seated there. Unable to get out of the way in time, the tattooed trio and 'Nampa' Konno were dumped in a tangle of flailing bodies and collapsing chairs onto the hard, wooden floor.

At the sight of the fight starting, with a chorus of alarmed shouts and screams, the customers began to flee out of the building, all knowing better than to willingly get caught up in what now was sure to happen inside the bar.

Rolling to his feet, and totally ignoring the fleeing patrons, 'C.M.' moved in once again on the big girl as she flung Konno away from her. Now having a healthy respect for her fighting ability, he managed to deflect her first punch, and land a hard shot to her chin – _to no effect!_

"You're going to have to do better than that," Sailor Jupiter told him with relish, striking up a martial arts pose. "I'm not some helpless schoolgirl you can abuse and get away with it. Come on, try again!"

Oda grinned at the feisty girl. Whatever else he may have been, he wasn't a coward. "All right," he said. "You and me, one-on-one. And when I've beaten you, you're going to get your tight apple ass smacked on your cheeks, _for _your cheek, and then - _you're mine."_

"In your dreams, _hentai,"_ Sailor Jupiter snarled out, not liking at all the way that the bulky, well-muscled man had licked his lips at the conclusion of his last comment. "All you're going to get from me is my boot up_ your own _ass!"

"_Heh!_ Sounds like fun. And guess what body part of mine, you're gonna be getting smacking _your_ bare ass, right here in front of everyone, when I bend you over my knee, Gorgeous?"

"Not if I tear your arms off, and ram them both up yours, first, along with your head!" Jupiter responded, her cheeks tingling with an embarrassed blush after hearing just what he was going to publicly do to her, should he win the fight.

Warily, the two antagonists circled each other, C.M Oda grinning with anticipation. The yakuza enforcer found himself being very impressed with his beautiful young opponent. She seemed to be unbelievably strong for a pretty teenage girl, was obviously very well versed in fighting, and had great legs, to boot! And this could be a hard battle – the sailor-suited girl had already proved that she could take a punch, too. But he still had no doubts about the eventual outcome. After he had conquered her, he would take his time with breaking her in, teaching her that he, at least, was her master. Before he was done, she would be his, her will to resist him totally broken. _And then…I'll stretch that tall, curvy body of hers out on a bed, upstairs, and…oh, yeah…!_

Sailor Jupiter, despite her anger, also realized that her opponent could be a handful, even for her. After all, he had taken a good, solid punch from her – _and got up again!_

_I'd best be careful with this guy! Judging by those tattooed arms of his, he's definitely yakuza, and maybe he's somehow powered up, too?_

_So she's a friend of that little blonde-haired girl in the alley?_ Oda was thinking at the same time, mentally measuring with care the distance between himself and his schoolgirl opponent._ I wonder how she managed to track me down? I hope that she'll prove to be just as enjoyable in bed as Blondie was? But I'd better be careful…I've got to beat her, first!_

He suddenly leapt in, his right fist blurring forward, to be deflected by a flick of the costumed girl's left wrist. Her own punch was blocked again over his shoulder, his left sunk into her taut stomach; her right hand cracked him slightly above his left eye! Once again, he avoided the full force of the blow, but the glancing impact still sent him staggering sideways, shaken but still on his feet.

_Ouch! I'm lucky to be still on my feet after that one. And damn! She's still up, as well! That good shot of mine to her stomach didn't have any effect on her, at all. Wow, she's tough! What a babe!_

"Pretty impressive, Honey," Oda laughed, feeling at his left eye and jaw again. "I felt those! Hey, instead of fighting, why don't I just take you to a priest, and we can get hitched, instead? I could do with a really tough, gorgeous babe like you to keep me on my toes. Heh! So what do you say to that, Sweet-Cheeks?"

"You asshole! The only place that I'm taking you to is a stretcher in intensive care!"

"Your stretcher, or mine? I'll take you in either, anytime - _hey, you guys! Leave her be, she's mine-!"_

But his order came too late. The three Black Cap gang members, whom 'Nampa' Konno had bowled over, had made it back to their feet, and none of them looked to have a sense of humor at what had just happened to them. All three angry yakuza rushed forward at the girl in front of them, one with a broken bottle, the other two with snapped-off chair legs that they were brandishing like clubs!

Turning, Sailor Jupiter took in the situation at a glance. Bending down, she seized the leg of the table next to her, hoisted its dead weight up off the floor as if it had been a feather, and flung the heavy piece of solid wooden furniture across the room, directly into her swarming attackers, skittling the trio like tenpins!

'C.M.' halted his attack, gaping open-mouthed at the pony-tailed girl's very impressive show of almost superhuman strength. _Hot damn! What the hell-?_

_Uh, oh!_ Sailor Jupiter told herself, as other members of the now openly hostile crowd of yakuza looked as if they were about to become involved, as well. _Minako-chan, where the heck are you? I may have to start using my powers if this keeps up!_

Just then, out of the corner of her left eye, the anxious sailor scout spotted one of the bartenders vaulting the counter with what looked to be a sawn-off shotgun clasped in his right hand. A second gangster standing nearby was reaching under his coat-!

"_Sparkling wide pressure!"_

The small, luminescent globe of ball lightning sailed across the room from her right hand, impacting with a thunderous explosion against the front of the solid wooden bar, behind the pair of armed men. The sudden blast sent the yakuza in the coat cartwheeling away to the left; the bartender was blown forward – directly into her power-packed side-kick! Reversing direction like he had just been shot out of a cannon, the unlucky drink specialist lost his firearm as he flew through the smoky air, to smash back-first into the top shelf above the huge bar mirror. Then he dropped like a stone amongst a shower of shattered bottles and spilt spirits, disappearing from sight down behind the bar counter with its brand new, slightly smoking hole, rimmed by glowing red embers.

At the sudden, violent explosion, the startled 'C.M.' Oda instinctively dropped his right hand into his coat pocket, whipping out his .38 special. Without thinking, he levelled the gun at the girl's back, just as she kicked the bartender, and pulled the trigger!

The small .38 calibre bullet, fired at point-blank range, struck the unsuspecting girl just to the left hand side of her ponytail, in the upper head! Not even the mighty Sailor Jupiter could withstand a bullet to the head at such close range. Throwing her white-gloved arms into the air, she spun in a half-circle and dropped to the floor in a limp, unmoving heap.

_Oh, shit!_ He thought to himself, lowering his smoking revolver. _I sure didn't mean to go that far with her… What a waste!_

"_What the fuck was that explosion?"_ 'Nampa' Konno shouted out in alarm, lowering his own, unfired, gun. "Did she just throw a _grenade_ at us?"

"Dunno, but it sure made a mess of that end of the bar," Oda said, staring at the large, smoking hole in the solid wooden front of the counter. "Hey, 'Nampa', you all right?"

"Yep, I'm fine. I see that you plugged her good. Damn, she sure was one tough little cookie!"

"Yeah. I fucked up, though." Kneeling at Sailor Jupiter's side, he quickly checked the result of his handiwork. The bullet had struck her in the back-left hand side of her head, a trickle of blood seeping out from between her long brown hair showing the exact spot of the impact. One look was all that he needed to take to know that if she wasn't dead now, she soon would be. "Aw, hell! I didn't want to kill her, dammit! She was far too fine for that. Hey, how's Takumi-san behind the bar?"

"I'm fine, C.M." that worthy replied in a shaken tone, as he rose up, rubbing his stomach, from behind the badly holed structure. Apart from a number of red-lined cuts from the broken shards of glass, he seemed to be largely unhurt. _"Ouch!_ She sure could hit. Oh, crap, look at all my broken stock behind here! It'll cost us a damn fortune to replace all of those bottles of Spirits, and the crystal glasses! Not to mention my big wall mirror, dammit!"

"Anybody else hurt?" Oda asked the battered trio under the broken table, putting away his revolver again as they slowly picked themselves up from the shattered glass and cigarette-butt littered floor.

"Naw, we're fine," one of the men called out in reply as he made it back to his booted feet, despite a bad cut to his right hand showing visible evidence to the contrary. "That table she chucked at us luckily hit Yuuta-san here on the head, so the hardest part of his body protected the rest of us pretty well!"

"Get lost, Naoto-san! That table hurt, dammit!"

"Good. Since you three idiots started this little fiasco by attacking that poor, tough sweetie in the middle of my fight with her, you can all give me a hand with dumping her body in the river. Come on, patch yourselves up with the First Aid kit behind the bar, and then let's get her the hell out of here before the cops show up!"

"And the rest you break out the brooms and mops, and help me get this room back into order," 'Nampa' ordered the scattering of other yakuza still in the room, all of their other customers having fled in panic well before the explosion and its lethal aftermath. Fortunately, them having done so meant there had been no non-yakuza witnesses to the shooting, so the situation was luckily still under their control. "And wipe up those bloodstains! You can bet that someone outside on the street has phoned the cops, by now, and we don't want them to find out too much of what really happened when they get here."

"But what about that bloody great hole in the front of my bar?" Takumi Nagata, the bartender, called out in annoyance as the other gangsters hurriedly set to work tidying up the mess that the fight had made of the room. "You sure as hell can't hide that!"

"Yes, we can," 'Nampa' told him. "Just put out those sparks, wipe the edge of the hole down, and then tack up one of those really big beer advertisement posters over it. The police will never even notice the difference."

-:-:-:-:-:-

"That was an explosion, I'm sure of it!" Minako Aino gasped out to herself, almost choking on her mouthful of coke as the sudden sound of the distant detonation reached her keen ears. She had, after all, heard enough of them while she was Sailor V, battling criminals in England. _"What the-?_ That was a gunshot, too! I'd best check it out!" Draining the remainder of the can with a single gulp, she tossed it, along with the now-empty bag of snacks, into the nearest rubbish bin, and then her brisk walk turned into a sprint.

A minute later, Minako slowed down as she neared the location where she thought the muffled sound of the explosion and the single gunshot had both originated from. Looking warily across the busy street, she saw that she had arrived in the vicinity of the 'Happy Hour' bar – a place she knew was a yakuza establishment.

"_Uh, oh!_ This could be bad! I sure hope that Mako-chan didn't go in there, all alone, for some reason?" she anxiously told herself.

_Ah, who am I kidding? It'd be just like Mako-chan to find a clue, and then try to take the culprit on, all by herself!_ The blonde then realized, a wry grin twisting at her lips. Then, after a moment's thought, she came to her decision as to what best to do.

_"_Hmmm? I'd best check out what's going on inside that bar, all right - _but carefully."_

Minako casually moved off down the sidewalk, mingling in with the small number of pedestrians that were still out at that hour of the night. After crossing the street at a respectable distance away from the small, seemingly-agitated crowd of rubberneckers in front of the bar's main entrance, she worked her way slowly back towards her brightly lit destination, pretending to window-shop if she thought that anyone was looking her way. Finally, once she was absolutely sure that she was unobserved, Minako ducked down an alleyway that led to the back of the big building – unknown to her, the same alleyway that poor Makoto had used only ten minutes before.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Just as Minako was preparing to slip into the side alley, further down its dimly lit length, a bright light above one of the outside doors abruptly switched on, releasing a flood of yellow light into the patchy darkness. Then the door opened, and a small crowd of men spilled out of the building and down the steps into the open, several of them carrying a slender shape in their muscular, tattooed arms.

"So where's the van?" Oda asked. "Damn, it's getting cool out here, now."

"At the far end of the alley, down that way," Konno told him, digging into one of his pockets, and then holding out his right hand. "Here are the keys. Now, remember, dump her in the river at a reasonable distance away from the bar. The last thing that we need is for the police to trace her movements back to here, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, we got it," 'Cream Man' grunted. "Hurry up, you three! The sooner we dump her, the sooner we get back here for another drink. And somebody turn off that light! I don't want anyone to see us carrying her down here."

Once the outside light had been switched off again, the quartet began to move off, with Makoto's limp body, in the opposite direction to that of the main road, heading towards the vehicle parked next to the drive at the far end.

The three remaining yakuza walked back up the steps. They had just begun to re-enter their multi-storeyed building when the last man in line happened to glance up the alley, towards the main road. He stiffened at what he saw, and then hissed out an urgent warning to his two companions.

"Hey, you guys! A girl just came into the alley, down the main road end!"

"Is that so? What's she look like?" 'Nampa' called back to him with interest, poking his head back out the doorway.

"Blonde schoolgirl, I think. And she hasn't spotted us yet, either."

_A blonde schoolgirl?_ Nampa thought, his eyes widening with surprise. _Boy, does that sound familiar! Maybe-? Nah, it can't be…can it? Well, just in case it is-!_

"Quick! You two stay here, and close the door," he instructed the other two men, coming to a quick decision. "I'll go a little further down that way, hide, and then distract her once she reaches here. Then you two grab her from behind, and we'll have us a little fun!"

Unaware of the hastily arranged trap waiting for her, Minako, after a quick glance back towards the brightly lit street she had just come from, turned her attention back to the task at hand. Sticking to the black shadows of the left-side wall for safety, she soon spotted a cluster of men further off down the alley.

"I wonder who they are?" Minako thought to herself, creeping further and further forward through the shadows, her back hard against the wall as the men she had spotted continued to move away from her. As she passed a small flight of steps that led up to a closed door, the four mystery men turned the corner at the far end of the alley, and disappeared from her sight.

Minako paused and bit her lip as she thought about what best to do. The four strangers had been definitely carrying something, but what? She raised her right hand, fingernails sparkling, and her Henshin stick spun out of nothingness into her hand. "Maybe I'd best transform, right now-?"

"Well, hi there, girlie," a loud voice suddenly called out to her from somewhere _very_ close by, making Minako jump with fright. Next second, from his hiding place behind several large rubbish bins, a tall man stepped out right in front of her. "And just what are you doing creeping along out here in our alley, all alone, you sexy little piece of fluff?"

"What? Who're you?" Minako warily replied, taking a step backwards. "Just stay right there - _mmmmph!"_

A hard hand had suddenly closed over her mouth from behind! Before Minako could take any steps to try to defend herself, a third man had stepped out from behind the man holding her and grabbed both of her slim wrists. Her Henshin stick flew from her grasp in the darkness, to bounce against the brick wall and drop into an open garbage can, out of her reach and sight.

As Minako was grabbed from behind, the first man ran forward to seize her slender legs and lift her up off the ground. "Quick, get her inside and up into the hidden room," he instructed the others as they all carried her twisting, struggling body up the steps and in through the now-open doorway behind them. "Handcuff her to the bed in there, for the meantime, until we decide who gets to have her first."

"Hey, are those sirens I can hear coming our way?" the smallest member of the trio then asked, staring off with concern towards the main road end of the alley as a faint, electronic wailing sound came to his ears.

"Yeah, you're right," 'Nampa' agreed, no less worried by what the sound implied – further trouble for them all. "Get this girl into the hidden room, upstairs, ASAP! If the cops _are_ on their way here because of that gunshot, before, the last thing we need is for them to find her on the premises!"

Once upstairs in the room, the three men quickly carried Minako to a large bed, where they handcuffed both of her slender wrists securely to the steel rail of the headboard. Once that essential task was completed, the trio stepped back to admire their handiwork.

"_Wow!"_ the smallest man gasped out, drinking in the sight of the blue-eyed teenage girl, her incredibly long, golden blonde hair sprayed out in a fan beneath her gorgeous figure. "She _is_ a real cutie!"

"I want her first!" the fat man with the hat declared, eyes shining, as Minako tried to twist her curvaceous, slender-waisted, long-legged body away from the lascivious gaze of the trio. The speaker then reached forward, and cupped a podgy hand over her top where it covered one of her deliciously large, swelling breasts. "She'll be the best ride that I've had in years!"

"No, _I'll_ go first," the smallest man argued, no less keen to get the show on the road. "I was the one who saw her first, remember?"

"Oh, no you two don't," the third man interrupted them, tearing his eyes away, with some difficulty, from the _very _stimulating sight of the stunning, young, blonde teenager with the red ribbon in her hair, sprawled out on the bed in front of them. "We'll _all_ get a turn with this babe, but we've got to play by the rules and draw lots for her, first. And that'll only happen _after_ we get rid of those nosy cops. So let's go and do that, right now, then draw straws for her with the other boys. Don't worry, she'll still be here when we get back, for _all _of us to enjoy at our leisure – once our own individual number comes up, that is."

"Damn," the small man muttered, licking his lips with anticipation. "That's fair, I guess? But I sure hope that I draw the first turn with her!"

"_No, please don't hurt me,"_ Minako cried out in a frightened voice, staring at her captors with her large, tearful blue eyes. _"What are you going to do to me?"_

"We're not going to hurt you, Cutie," the tall, senior member of the yakuza trio smugly told her, as he and the others reluctantly turned away to head towards the door. "After you've provided us with some well-earned rest and relaxation, you can be sure that we'll look after you just fine, from now on!"

Laughing, the three men departed the room, locking the door securely behind them, leaving the scared and helpless Minako to tug fruitlessly at her chains and stare wide-eyed around at her unfamiliar and frightening surroundings.


	4. Chapter 4

**This Chapter also has a 'M' version under 'Sailor Moon: D - The 'M' Version Chapters' .**

**WARNING: The 'M' version contains more adult content and it is suitable for Mature Readers only!**

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER FOUR**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Meanwhile, down by the riverbank, things were not going as planned for 'Cream Man' Oda and his three partners in crime. The six minute journey there had gone smoothly enough, as had parking their van in an inconspicuous spot next to a badly-lit access way that led to the riverbank walkway. It was when all four men had lugged Minako's limp body to the other end of the entranceway that their problem had begun.

The burly yakuza stared out of his shadowy hiding place and cursed silently to himself. Approaching along the open, well-illuminated, paved walkway was a large party of about ten mixed couples, out for a romantic evening stroll above the grassed riverbank.

"Damn the luck," he hissed to the other three tattooed men who were supporting the motionless frame of Makoto. "What bad timing! We'll never toss her into the river with that lot hanging around out there. And there's a couple more people on the grass bank, too!"

"So what do you want us to do with her?" one of the other yakuza asked him. "She's getting heavy, and we can't hang around here all night."

Just then, what felt suspiciously like a raindrop splashed against his left cheek. Looking up at the sky, 'Cream Man' saw black clouds beginning to roll in high overhead, the swirling mass starting to obscure the bright light of the full moon. That cinched it, as far as he was concerned.

"Just dump her right here, I suppose," he decided sourly. "On top of this cold wind, it looks like it's going to rain after all! This is a good enough spot to leave her, and it's far enough away from the bar to divert any suspicion away from us. Besides-!" He raised up Makoto's limp head by her ponytail and stared at her pale, motionless face. "She's finished anyway. Come on, drop her and let's get the hell outta here before we're noticed!"

Quickly the men lowered Makoto against the left-side wall, where she slumped down to the concrete and rolled over in a limp heap. Just as the yakuza melted back into the shadows and quickly moved off back the way that they had come, one of the members of the walking party noticed the sprawled out black shape lying on the pavement just inside the access way, crumpled next to the concrete wall. After staring in shock for a moment as he recognised what it was, the man ran over and knelt next to Makoto's prone form. Raising his head, he called out urgently to his staring companions.

"_Hey, we've got a seriously-injured girl over here!"_

"_Somebody call an ambulance!"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

Half an hour later, two small, furry figures sat watching the hive of activity outside the 'Happy Hour' Bar from the safety of a handy tree branch. Artemis and Luna were not very happy with the situation at all – first they and Rei had arrived back at the street corner to discover that Makoto wasn't there. Even worse, Artemis could not remember having seen neither hide nor hair of Minako at all at the time of his chance meeting with Makoto.

After waiting a fruitless five minutes for the tardy pair to show up, the three had moved on to their destination. And now that the trio had finally arrived outside the yakuza bar, it was only to find a large number of police cars and uniformed officers milling around on the street directly beside the main entrance to the building! Something had obviously happened there in their absence, but the presence of the police precluded them from surreptitiously entering the building to find out exactly what. Rei had volunteered to go and learn what she could from the two policemen guarding the main doors, while the two cats had climbed up onto the tree branch to keep an eye on their surroundings, just in case the two missing sailor scouts should by chance make an appearance.

"And I'm telling _you, _Luna, that when I ran into Makoto on my way back to the Hikawa shrine, she was by herself," Artemis insisted firmly to the sceptical-looking Luna. "There was no sign of Minako there at all and Makoto didn't tell me where she had gone!"

"If that's so, then what happened to her? She didn't just vanish into thin air. And if something had happened to her, Makoto would have told you, wouldn't she?"

"Maybe they had to split up for some reason?" Artemis pointed out. "Maybe after I told Makoto where the man who attacked Usagi was, she took off to confront him alone, leaving Minako behind, and got into more trouble than she could handle?"

"After I specifically told them to stay together? Oh, those stupid girls! I know that Makoto's a hothead, but Minako should've known better. She _was_ Sailor V, after all," Luna burst out in exasperation. "Doesn't _anybody_ here remember their training?"

"You're right, Luna," Artemis replied with a scowl. "If they both absolutely _had_ to go charging off without us, I hope they both had the sense to transform into Sailor Scouts first! And when they reached the bar, if one had arrived before the other, she should have waited for the other to arrive, or for us! Then they go in _together_, not singly, and overawe the crowd inside into handing over the culprit without a fight. That way, they or we could've then handed him over to the police and it would've all been over with no harm done."

"Always assuming that they did come here, singly or together, in the first place, and that is what in fact, did happen? Frankly, Sherlock Whiskers, I have my doubts…!"

"Yes, Luna, I am, after all, only speculating as to what might have happened," he sighed. "Have _you_ come up with a better scenario?"

"No. Well, we can't do a thing now, with all of these police cars outside the building," Luna stated unhappily. "But why, exactly, are they here?"

"Gee, could it be because they're giving away free beer and doughnuts tonight?" Artemis remarked sarcastically. "Why do you think they're here, genius?"

"Maybe you were right all along, Artemis? Now that I've had time to observe the scene, I've changed my mind. I'll bet you my bottom dollar that all these police officers are here because of something that those two hotheads of ours did inside that bar!"

"We won't know that for sure, Luna, until Rei gets back from asking the police over there what they know. Ah, look, here she comes now!"

"Sorry, guys, the police don't know much, either, just that someone heard an explosion and a gunshot and the sound of a fight inside the bar," Rei reported to them, once she had arrived back under the tree. "That person called the police, and here they are. The cops are questioning a few people, but the culprits seem to have gotten away. They wouldn't let me inside the bar, but I couldn't see any sign of Mako-chan or Minako-chan from where I was standing by the front door."

"Are the cops going to search the whole building?" Artemis asked.

"No, they can't. Not without a search warrant, or else it's not legal," Rei replied, a sour look on her face. "And they're not letting anyone in or out of the 'Happy Hour' Bar until they've finished their investigations, either. I know, because I tried to get in by saying that I was a part-time bar employee on my way in to do my shift. They didn't buy it and told me to go home."

"Drat the luck!" Luna cursed. "So we don't even know for sure whether the girls were here or not, and the man you saw who hurt Usagi is probably long gone from here by now, too."

"I'd say so, Luna," Artemis sighed. "With all of these policemen here, the last thing he'd want to do is hang around and maybe get questioned…"

"Well, we can't hang around here all night, either, especially since it looks like it's going to rain. Maybe we'd best all get back to the Hikawa Shrine?" Luna suggested. "Don't forget that Ami's there looking after Usagi and Chibiusa all by herself at the moment. Besides, as I said, we don't really know for sure that Minako and Makoto were even here, and with our communicators still down, we can't check up on their location, now, anyway."

"Good point, Luna," Artemis conceded. "Maybe they left here before we arrived and are trailing the so-called 'man' who hurt Usagi somewhere else? It'd be best if we did get back to the Hikawa Shrine so we'll be there, ready and waiting, if they do manage to make contact, or go back there looking for our help?"

"Good thinking, Artemis. Okay, let's go."

-:-:-:-:-:-

The room that now served as Minako's prison was small and its furnishings sparse, with only the bed, a dresser, a washbasin and mirror and a small, built in wardrobe. There was no window, but interestingly enough, a toilet cubicle and a small shower unit had been built side-by-side into the far left hand corner, beside the washbasin. Stacked next to it were a pile of towels and a box of soap.

Minako now had no illusions about just what was going to happen to her in that room. She had known from a young age that she was very beautiful and that men desired her. And also that some men were perfectly willing to help themselves to her – whether she wanted them to or not…

She closed her eyes and fervently prayed that her friends would come for her in time…!

Unfortunately for Minako, her prayers were not to be granted.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Not long after Artemis, Luna and Rei had departed the scene, a small shape moved along in the shadows of the alley beside the bar. A pool of light streaming from an uncovered window momentarily illuminated the scampering shape of Diana, still out searching for her father.

"I'm sure that he came this way," she told herself. "I managed to trace his scent all the way to here, but all of these smells in here make it difficult to pick him out…whoops! I almost cut my nose on that piece of broken glass!"

Stepping backwards, Diana stared with distaste at the broken pieces of windowpane that lay shattered at her feet, then up at the jagged glass still clinging to the remaining edges of the window frame high above her.

"Well? What could have happened here, I wonder…? _Wait!_ What's that I can see over there in that pile of rubbish?"

Bouncing across the alley, Diana pulled the very familiar looking object by its attached ribbon out of the heaped up pile of junk and stared at it in astonished recognition.

_That's Sailor Moon's locket! But how did it get here? I'd better take it with me, somehow…?_

With a bit of effort, Diana finally managed to get the ribbon's loop up under where the top of her left front leg joined with her body, and then she wrapped the rest of the ribbon twice around her own body, leaving the locket hanging down safely from the top of her back. With the position that it was in, she found out that the object didn't restrict her movement to any great extent at all. Nor was it too heavy, which was a relief!

"Wow, Usagi and the others are going to be glad that I found this," Diana purred to herself. "I'd best hurry up and get it back to the shrine…!"

Continuing on down the alley towards where it fed out onto a larger street, the small, grey kitten heard the pitter-patter of raindrops beginning to fall on the roof of the buildings above her. Then the downpour began to get heavier, forcing her to seek shelter against the more sheltered right side wall of the access way. Cold water soon began to flow down the spouting of the buildings into the open drains on either side of the alley, from there to pour down through the metal-grilled gutters into the stormwater system that ran under the nearby street up ahead of her.

It was just unfortunate that a car turned into the alley just as Diana was about to exit it. Jumping backwards with the shock of its sudden appearance in a blaze of light, the small kitten fell down the gap between the kerb and one of the steel grills, to splash with a loud _'plop'_ into the water rapidly filling the stormwater drain below the street! Struggling mightily, the tiny kitten finally managed to haul both herself and the locket out of the fortunately still shallow, but freezing torrent, up onto the safety of a brick ledge that paralleled the drain. There, she crouched shivering, cold but safe.

But, Diana realised, she was also now trapped. And unless she could find a way out, she could be down there for a long, long time…!

-:-:-:-:-:-

About one hour later, the frightened Minako heard voices and footsteps approaching along the hallway. The voices stopped just outside the room and then the door abruptly opened, letting in a flood of light and a small crowd of yakuza, including the same three hoodlums whom had overpowered her outside. Some of the men were craning forward on tiptoes and shoving each other in their eagerness to drool over her striking beauty. Them and one other, whom she didn't recognise from her capture, but he did look somewhat familiar…?

"Well, here she is, the other girl that we caught snooping around outside here while you were disposing of the body of the first one who almost wrecked the bar. Luckily the cops didn't have a warrant to search the building, although I doubt they would've found her, anyway. And with those showers of rain outside, they all left early." He gestured towards the bed. "Now, didn't I tell you that she was well worth the wait?"

"_Hot damn!!"_ the stranger gasped out, excitement and lust almost overwhelming his thick voice as he stared at the securely bound golden-haired schoolgirl on the bed with avaricious eyes. "You sure know how to pick 'em! She's a total, absolute babe!" He looked back at the first speaker, and added, "So what is this, _Christmas? _This is the third total Honey that I've run into tonight."

"Run into is right," 'Nampa' Konno agreed. "So how's your eye and jaw, now?"

"Hurts like hell." 'Cream Man' scratched at the swelling on his jaw, then added ruefully, "It's just a shame that I lost my temper and shot that pony tailed bitch in the head downstairs – I could have had a piece of her, too! Never mind – two outta three isn't bad. Must be my lucky day…!"

"Or night?" 'Nampa' Konno added with a grin. "I remember you telling me about that other blonde piece of fluff you grabbed in the alley a few hours ago. Some people have all the luck!"

"Yeah. _Ha, ha!_ So what's the rules with this one?"

"Okay, we can all do what we want with her, but no hitting – we don't want that pretty face damaged! And we all gotta use protection, for obvious reasons. And no longer than half an hour each – and that includes showering afterwards."

"All right, fair enough. Take a hike, you guys. I won the draw so I've got first dibs on her. You can all toss up to see who's next after I've broken her in properly for you."

At his suggestive words, a shudder wracked Minako's body and an icy hand seemed to clutch her heart as she lay back and closed her eyes in terrified resignation. She knew what was coming next, and she also knew that there was nothing that she could possibly do to prevent it. What had happened to poor Usagi was also about to happen to her – _and worse!_ - by the same piece of scum, too! And what was that about a pony-tailed girl getting shot? _Could it have been - Mako-chan?!_

If only _- if only!_ - She could still change into Sailor Venus this very minute! But her Henshin stick had been lost, knocked from her grasp by the sudden ambush in the darkness outside in the alley, and she had been overwhelmed so suddenly that there had been no chance at all of recovering it again. Fool that she was, if she had only transformed earlier, she would have gone through her ambushers like the proverbial dose of salts. Instead, because of her own stupidity, she was now laying there, bound and helpless, about to be used and abused by her gloating, lust-filled captors.

Minako took a deep shuddering breath and steeled her will. _So be it_. Even though she had never told a soul apart from Artemis about it, this very thing had happened to her not once but twice before in places far away, once when she was much younger, and once when she had been Sailor V in England. Having experienced abuse before had in certain ways made her mentally stronger – stronger certainly than Usagi had been – and more prepared to face her coming ordeal.

Minako also drew some small consolation from the fact that her hands wouldn't always be tied like this, either – sooner or later the boot would be on the other foot. Minako knew that she would have her revenge – for both herself and Usagi – _in spades_ when that time came! But until then, she would just have to endure once again the terror, pain and the humiliation of having her body being used and enjoyed by despicable, low-life criminals…

"Only my body is here, not my mind," Minako repeated silently to herself, squeezing her eyes tighter together in an effort to stop her involuntary tears. "Only my body. I'm fifteen, happy – _oh, so happy with my friends around me_ – and far, far away…"

Despite her stoicism, the beautiful blonde teenager couldn't hold back a gasp of misery as the winner of the cruel lottery climbed onto the bed next to her, his hands reaching for her shivering body.

-:-:-:-:-:-

It was well after four o'clock the next morning when the last of the Yakuza had finished having his way with her. And, true to his word, 'Cream Man' had come back for a second helping – as did not a few of the others. But finally, it was all over – for the time being, at least.

After the last grinning man was finally through with her, he and one other guard had untied Minako's hands, half dragged-half carried her to the shower, and given her a good wash – that last being the most welcome event of the whole night. They had also let her use the toilet cubicle while they had tossed some new blankets onto the bed to replace the dirty ones she had been lying on throughout her ordeal. Then they had securely chained her hands with handcuffs back to the steel frame headboard of the bed, before departing and locking the door firmly behind them.

Only then, when she was finally alone, did poor Minako give way to her tears. While the yakuza had been busy enjoying her body, she had refused to give the men the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Minako had not been a virgin for quite a long time now – she had previously dated a number of eager suitors and boyfriends, and had never considered or expected such relationships with cute guys to be purely plutonic. She had even had a couple of all-night sessions with one guy of whom she had been particularly fond. But tonight, her cruel captors had come very, very close in the end to breaking her. Even a girl whom had been named after the goddess of love could only endure so much abuse.


	5. Chapter 5

**This Chapter also has a 'M' version under 'Sailor Moon: D - The 'M' Version Chapters' .**

**WARNING: The 'M' version contains graphic violence at the end. It is suitable for Mature Readers only!**

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER FIVE**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Saturday Morning had finally arrived. At the Hikawa Shrine, little Chibiusa had woken up early, and after checking that Usagi was still sleeping peacefully, she had got dressed and hurried out of the guest room to join the despondent little group gathered around the low table in the sitting room of Rei's living quarters. It was a fine autumn morning outside, the frequent showers that had beat against the rooftop at regular intervals during the night had now disappeared, and the shining golden rays of the sun angling in through the windows belied the sombre mood of those gathered inside the light and spacious room.

"Our communicators still aren't working, so there's no way that we can get in touch with them that way, either, yet," Artemis was at that moment telling the others from behind his saucer of breakfast milk on the table as she hurried into the room. "It's like they've all vanished off the face of the earth!"

"I just wish that all of those police cars hadn't been gathered out in front of the bar when we arrived there?" Rei stated in an annoyed tone, placing the steaming cup of coffee that she had been sipping at back down onto the tabletop. "We couldn't really go busting in there to look for Mako-chan and Minako-chan with them hanging around outside like- _oh!_ Good morning, Chibiusa-chan."

"Morning, Rei-chan, everybody. What's going on? Where are Ami-chan, Minako-chan and Makoto-chan?" Chibiusa looked around the room with a puzzled expression on her face, Luna Ball P still circling protectively above her. "And where's Diana?"

"Ah, Ami's still sleeping. She was up very late last night. As for the other two, they went out last night to look for Diana, and they haven't come back yet," Luna explained, after licking her own breakfast milk off her whiskers. "We don't know where any of them are and we're beginning to get worried as to their safety."

"Do you think that something bad might have happened to them?" Chibiusa asked in a worried voice. "Something like what happened to Bunny-chan?"

"We don't know yet, but the signs don't look too good," Luna reluctantly admitted. "Both Makoto and Minako went missing near what we know to be a yakuza bar. And from what he saw there earlier on last night, Artemis told us that the man who hurt Usagi was drinking there with a friend. Which means that the man we are looking for is in all probability a yakuza."

"Almost certainly a yakuza, Luna," Artemis confirmed. "He and his friend both had yakuza tattoos on their arms."

"So you think that Makoto-chan, Minako-chan and maybe even Diana have been captured by the local yakuza clan?"

"Probably, yes," Luna agreed. "Makoto and Minako, anyway. We were going to check out that bar last night, but due to unforeseen circumstances with the police checking out a shooting in the area, we couldn't."

"Well, our first priority now is to find out for sure whether they're being held in that bar, or not," Artemis decided. "I suggest that we start keeping the place under covert surveillance, by day and by night. Luna and I can carry out the night shift, for a few nights at least. If they do have our girls, I doubt that they'll risk keeping them there for longer than that in one location. We two cats won't raise any suspicions, and with anything like luck, we'll be able to spot them if they're being moved."

"But what if they're not being held there?" Rei asked in an edgy tone, with a nervous glance at Chibiusa-chan. "What if they've been…well, you know what I mean, I think?"

Artemis and Luna exchanged frightened looks. That, too, was by now a very real possibility…!

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when – and if – we come to it," Luna finally stated in a quiet voice. "As of now, we'll be going on the assumption that they both still – _active."_

"Luna's right," Artemis confirmed. "We mustn't go jumping to conclusions. The girls have only been gone a few hours, and they can't have got too far away in that time. I suggest that I go out on a quick stroll back to where we were last night, to see what I can see in the daylight."

"Something bad happened to Makoto-chan and Minako-chan and Diana last night, didn't it?" Chibiusa declared to them. "You guys can't hide it from me! I want to know the truth!"

The three others exchanged worried looks. "Well, I guess she does have a right to know?" Luna finally said. Both Artemis and Rei nodded in reluctant agreement to her, so Luna turned back to the impatient looking Chibiusa and began to fill her in on all that she didn't yet know about what had transpired last night whilst she and Usagi had been asleep.

Just as Luna had started her explanation, Ami came into the room, with a cheerful good morning to everyone, even though she still looked to be a bit tired. After everyone had returned the curtesy, Ami had sat in and listened to what Luna had to say as well.

"But if Makoto-chan and Minako-chan and Diana really _were_ dead, surely you would have felt it when it happened?" Chibiusa finally declared after Luna had finished speaking. "And I would have felt it happen, too. All us guys have got a kinda sixth sense link, so if something like that happened to one of us, we'd all know it straight away!"

Artemis and Luna exchanged startled looks and twin sighs of relief. With all that had been happening last night, that very valid fact was something that neither of them had even thought about…!

"Okay, so we _know _that they're all still alive," Rei said with a grin. "Now we just have to find out where…"

"And we also have to take Chibiusa and Usagi safely back to their parents' house. It's not safe for them to be out on the streets by themselves at the moment," Luna decided firmly. "In fact, I think that it'd be best if Chibiusa leaves here entirely, and goes back to Crystal Tokyo to enlist the help of the Outer Senshi."

"Great idea, Luna," Artemis agreed with alacrity. "It's far safer for her there than here."

"_Heeey!_ No go, Artemis," Chibi Moon burst out in protest. "I can help! I wanna go and find Diana!"

"I don't think so, Chibiusa," Luna stated in a tone that booked no nonsense. "It's far too dangerous for you here, right now. Besides, someone has to go back to the thirtieth century to find the Outer Senshi in Crystal Tokyo. Since they're not here in the twenty-first century at present, we've got no other way of contacting them. And since you've done the trip more times than any of us, and your future parents are there as well, you are the logical choice to go."

"Luna's right, Chibiusa-chan," Rei agreed. "The best thing that you can do to help right now is to find Sailor Pluto. I think that we are definitely going to need her help with this one."

"Mmmm! Okay, I guess that you're right," Chibiusa grumbled, then brightened up a bit at the thought of seeing her mother and father again. "I'll do it, you guys, but first I'd like to say goodbye to Bunny-chan and see our family back at our house for one last time before I go back. Please say 'bye' to the other sailor scouts for me once you find them again, especially Diana? And tell them that I'll be seeing everybody again real soon, okay?"

"It's a deal," Luna smiled back at her. "Good girl! I know that we can count on you to send back help. And I'll accompany both you and Usagi back to your house once she wakes up and you two have finished having your breakfast here."

"We'll both come too," Ami and Rei chorused. "We'd like to say goodbye to you as well, Chibiusa-chan!"

"Yes. And after we've seen you off, I want to go to the library to do some research," Ami added.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Once safely back inside their warm and comfortable home, Usagi and Chibiusa had placed fake smiles on their faces and greeted Usagi's parents and brother with forced cheerfulness. After Ami and Rei had departed for the library, both having given their promise to be back at the house to see Chibiusa off that afternoon, the two girls, accompanied by Luna and Luna Ball P, had quickly retired to Usagi's room at the earliest opportunity. Once there, Usagi had removed her dirty school uniform, dumping it quickly into the big laundry hamper. Then she had changed into her long, pink flannel pajamas and fluffy bunny slippers and flopped down onto her bed, curling herself up into a despondent ball under the top blanket.

"Oh, how can I ever tell them about what happened to me?" she asked herself unhappily. "I love Mom and Dad, but would they ever understand? _Could_ they ever understand?"

"Don't worry, Bunny-chan," Chibiusa declared to her, as she also changed into a fresh outfit in preparation for her departure back to Crystal Tokyo later that day. "I'm sure that everyone here would understand if you were to tell them. You mustn't torture yourself, it wasn't your fault!"

"_Chibiusa-chan…"_

"She's right, Usagi," Luna spoke up firmly. "You aren't and never will be responsible for what happened to you in that alley. You have every right to walk the streets safely, by day or by night, without being attacked. Never, ever think that you did anything wrong by being there!"

"I know, Luna," Usagi sobbed, hugging her pillow tightly. "But now I…it happened, Luna. He… _hurt _me, and I'm _afraid…!"_

Chibiusa dropped the dress she was about to put on and climbed onto the bed, hugging Usagi tightly against her. Future mother and future daughter clung tightly to each other as they wept in misery, each drawing comfort from the others presence.

-:-:-:-:-:-

True to their word, Ami and Rei had arrived back at the Tsukino house at two-thirty pm to see Chibiusa and Luna Ball P depart back to the thirtieth century. After Luna Ball P had hypnotised the three other family members to forget all about Chibusa's existence so that there wouldn't be any awkward questions asked about where she had suddenly gone, the little group had left the house and walked down to the park beside the lake, where Chibiusa and Luna Ball P could depart for the future, safe from any prying eyes.

Ami and Rei were taking no chances with Usagi's safety this time. Both had immediately transformed into Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars the instant that they had entered the park. But even though the wooded landscape surrounding them looked to be the very picture of tranquillity, after what had happened to their friend last night, they figured that one could never be _too_ careful…!

After a final round of farewells, and a very tearful bout of hugging between Usagi and her crying future daughter, Chibiusa had finally activated the Key to Time that she had received from Sailor Pluto. With a final wave, the pink haired girl and her toy had floated up into the pink beam of light and vanished in a puff of imploding air.

-:-:-:-:-:-

After Rei and Ami had seen Usagi and Luna safely back to their house once again, both had departed in their civilian forms to go back to the Hikawa Shrine. Luna had stayed with Usagi, although she intended to rejoin both girls and Artemis at the shrine once she had seen Usagi comfortably tucked away in bed and sleeping soundly that night.

'Well, Ami-chan, what are you planning on doing now?" Rei Hino asked her bluenette friend as they strolled off down the street back towards the center of town. "I've gotta get back to the Hikawa Shrine soon because I've still got a few jobs to finish there before tonight. Yuichiro-kun doesn't have the time to finish them all by himself, so I'm going to give him a hand. That'll leave us both free tonight to chase up on any leads we may get with regards to finding Mako-chan and Minako-chan, and Diana, too."

"You go ahead, Rei-chan," Ami told her in a distracted voice. "I have to go back to the library, I accidentally left my custom search engine CD in one of the computers there! I can't afford to lose it, so I have to go back there and get it right away."

"Do you want some company?" Rei asked her, coming to a halt. "I don't know whether we should split up with all that's happening right now? It might not be safe?"

"No, it'll be all right, Rei-chan," Ami laughed. "I'm just going to the library then straight back to the shrine after that. I'll be careful, but I'm sure that nothing is going to happen to me in broad daylight in that short period of time?"

"You're absolutely sure? I _can_ come with you…?"

"No, I'll be fine! Go on, Yuichiro's waiting for you…!"

Rei blushed at the unspoken implication. "All right…? Okay, Ami-chan, maybe I'm just worrying about nothing? What happened to Bunny-chan and the others going missing has just got me a bit spooked, you see?"

"Yes, me too, Rei-chan. I'll be back at the shrine soon, okay?''

"Okay, Ami-chan. _Bye!"_ After a final, worried look at her friend, Rei Hino turned and jogged away back up the road towards her destination.

"Yes, I'll only be a few minutes behind her," Ami told herself as she crossed the road and walked towards a narrow side street that led directly to the road on which the library was situated. "I'm sure that I'll be fine…!"

Ami Mizuno was to bitterly regret those words.

The blue haired teen turned the corner and strolled at a rapid pace up the slightly sloping, paved sidewalk, totally inoblivious to the momentary flash of a pair of yellow glowing eyes high above her. A second set of eyes flickered for a second behind the partially open front door of a shuttered shop just ahead of her. She never noticed them, either.

Ami did notice, however, that there seemed to be no other pedestrians at all on either side of this small lane at this particular moment in time. Even though it was broad daylight, the thought of being totally alone on the street, with no other people in sight, suddenly made her feel very uneasy. She swallowed a gulp of nervousness and quickened her pace.

_Maybe Rei-chan had been right? I don't like the feel of this place at all. I'd best be very careful…!_

As the wary girl passed a closed shop, a sudden snapping sound caught her attention. Whirling around, her dark blue eyes stared with heart-stopping anxiety across the one lane street, up towards where she thought that she had glimpsed a rapidly moving shape darting between two large advertising signs on the building parallel to her position!

_I'd best transform, right now!_

Ami raised her right hand and took an involuntary step backwards.

Stars exploded in her head and everything went black.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Now that she was finally back in the safe, familiar and comfortable surroundings of her bedroom, Usagi managed to calm herself down enough to stop her involuntary shivering. In slow motion, she quietly re-donned her pink pajamas, climbed back onto her bed and just sat there, rocking back and forth, hugging her pillow tightly against her chest for comfort.

There was a sudden knock at the door, causing Usagi to jump in panic. But it was only her mother coming in with a plate of cake and a large glass of juice for her. Usagi forced a cheery smile onto her face and accepted the food readily enough. However, after her mother had departed, to Luna's dismay, Usagi merely pecked away at the snack instead of bolting it down in her usual fashion. Things were not going well for her at all…!

"Luna?"

"Yes, Usagi-chan?"

"I'm worried…about Minako-chan and Makoto-chan… I hope that what happened to me hasn't happened to them, too…?"

Many times in the past, Usagi had wished that she could be free from the responsibility of being Sailor Moon. But now that she finally had that chance, two of her dear friends had gone missing. She wanted a normal life, but it should have been her choice to have it, not have it forced upon her like this! Despite what had happened to her, she was desperately worried about the sudden disappearance of Minako and Makoto – especially since Luna had told her of the Youma scent that they had found last night.

"Don't worry, Usagi, I'm sure that we'll find them both soon," Luna reassured her. "Rei, Ami and Artemis are on it right now, as we speak."

"I want to help. But I've lost my locket," Usagi wept. "I can't transform into Sailor Moon any more…! I'm helpless, Luna…! What if - _what if he – I-?! Luna, I'm scared…!"_

"When we find the man who did this to you, we'll find your locket," Luna hastily reassured the distraught girl, jumping into her arms, to be hugged tight. "Yes, we haven't forgotten about him, either. Be brave, Usagi-chan, he'll get his just deserts, you'll see!"

"I hope so, Luna. I really hope so…!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

The undulating plain was dark, rocky and windswept. What plant life there was in this harsh, barren environment was sparse and deformed by the stresses of growing in such an inhospitable area. The gnarled branches of stunted, wind-blasted trees twisted grotesquely skyward, like clawed arms snatching at the whirling cloud formations sweeping overhead.

In a sheltered hollow amongst the desolation, a large circle of rough-hewn stones had been erected, their general placement indicative of a more primitive form of Stonehenge. Scattered amongst the shattered and tumbled boulders nearby were a number of primitive looking habitations. These dwelling places were made mostly of contorted branches, covered with hides of thick, leathery skin, held down firmly against the sand-laden winds by woven ropes of some tough, fibrous plant.

Nearby, a few blackened stone fire pits had been dug into the sparse, unfertile soil. A couple of these had large cooking pots made of some silvery metal handing from sturdy poles next to them, ready to be used at a moments notice. Not too far away from these cooking sites was a large pile of assorted bones, chitin scales, and pieces of the inedible, leathery skin, many studded by plates and knobs of bone. Some of the huge relics protruding from this strewn pile of bones looked to be far too large to be from any known species of earth animal, others of these sad, fragmented, white remains looked to be suspiciously manlike…

If this large, rotting heap of discarded scraps contained bony fragments that looked like they were the remains of people, the inhabitants of this small campsite hidden away in this barren wasteland were anything but members of our own species. The half dozen black skinned, white horned creatures sitting or resting quietly amongst their shelters had a distinct humanoid shape, but no one seeing them could ever be fooled into thinking that they were, indeed, true men. True men were not over two metres tall, with glowing red eyes, and black, scaly, armored skin. Nor did they, as a rule, sport two large, twisted horns protruding from their hairless heads, or have teeth that resembled two rows of jagged glass! Nor did modern humans wear only loincloths that looked as if they were made of tiger skin…

Abruptly, the peace of the bizarre and primitive campsite was disturbed – although not in a totally unexpected manner. A sudden white glow exploded from the exact center of the monolithic stone circle, fading away a few seconds later. Realizing what had just happened, a number of the hulking black figures lumbered with curiosity towards the stone circle from as many different directions, their leader well to the forefront of the converging pack of hunters.

Then their visitors strode into view from behind one of the massy standing stones that made up the evenly spaced outer ring of the henge. Both newcomers were as tall as their hosts, but slimmer and their skin was of a reddish hue. The newcomers were members of a completely different, but just as unusual – _and lethal_ - species.

"Greetings, Azuriel," the tallest of the pair of visitors croaked out, his misshapen face splitting into a fanged grin. "Did you miss us?"

"So it's you two, again, is it?" the black demon leader of the small hunting party snarled back. "We agreed to help you in return for a free hand on Earth and fresh food, but you have been very lax in upholding your part of the bargain, Youma!"

"Relax, Azuriel," Zephyr laughed, gesturing to the large bulky sack that his companion, Yaadrig, was carrying over one heavily muscled shoulder. "Know you now that Sailor Moon has been eliminated as a threat last night on Earth! And in a further show of good faith, we've brought you a – _present."_ He signalled to Yaadrig, who stepped forward and unceremoniously dumped the full sack down onto the ground at the suspiciously staring demon's cloven feet.

"Go on, Azuriel, open it. We think that you'll enjoy very much what you find inside!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

One hour later, Luna arrived back at the Hikawa Shrine, leaving Usagi safely tucked into bed in her house. Artemis was in the living room, busy studying a detailed map of Azabu-Juuban that was spread out on the low tabletop before him. The white cat also had a small, handheld computer next to him, on which he had been doing some online research on the criminal organization that was probably going to be their new enemy.

"Ah, there you are, Luna. Rei got back here thirty minutes ago, but Ami hasn't showed up yet. She must be still at the library."

"Any news yet, Artemis? Have you found out what happened to Diana, Minako and Makoto yet?"

"_Maybe._ But first, tell me, how's Usagi bearing up, Luna?" Artemis asked with concern.

"She's still traumatized, Artemis," Luna replied sadly, jumping up onto the tabletop next to him. "Even though she's gotten to be a lot braver and stronger than she used to be, this has a totally new experience for her and her confidence has taken a real knock. Of course, she knows that she and the other sailor scouts have been putting their very lives on the line every time they confront a Youma and that every encounter could be their last. But Usagi never expected that _this _could ever happen to her…_poor child!"_

"I see…? I sympathise with her – and you, too, Luna." He gave her a quick lick on her ear. "Hey, did Chibiusa get away all right? I would've liked to have seen her off, but I thought it best to try to find out a bit more about the man behind the attack on Usagi before the trail got too cold."

"Yes, Chibiusa and Luna Ball P went back to Crystal Tokyo about half past two this afternoon. As well as Usagi and myself, Rei and Ami also managed to make it there to see them off. Chibiusa said to say goodbye to you and also Diana, Makoto and Minako, when we find them, that is."

"Good. I'm glad she got out of here today because I suspect that there is going to be a fair bit of trouble for us coming up really soon. Here's what I've managed to find out about the Yakuza Clan who owns the 'Happy Hour' bar, Luna, and you're not going to like it at all…!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

The all-enveloping darkness had slowly given way to a deep throbbing sensation in the back of Ami's head. As she came back to full consciousness, Ami then became aware of a painful stiffness in her slender arms and shoulders – both seemed to be twisted upwards for some reason. She tried to move them, but found out that she could not. Nor could she move her feet…_what was going on?_

_Ouch, my head!_ Ami thought to herself, screwing up her pretty face. _Ohh, I feel awful! My arms hurt - in fact, it almost seems that I'm hanging from them…! Where am I?_

Ami raised her limply hanging head and opened her pain-filled eyes – and immediately wished that she had not. For it was then that she realised with horror that she had been bound hand and foot so that she was hanging suspended horizontally from a steel pole, face down over a pile of dry wood in what looked suspiciously like a fire pit! A large basin had been placed just below her head, a second one just below her taut stomach, resting on the dry wood…_but why?_ And why had some sort of strange, hot-tasting vegetable been rammed deeply into her mouth, so that she could barely breathe, let alone speak?

As Ami tried to puzzle out her situation, a sudden movement on her left hand side abruptly caught her eye. Swivelling her head to look for its source, Ami saw in a stab of blinding terror a huge, ebon-skinned monster standing there right next to her helpless form, eyeing her with more than just interest in its red, glowing eyes!

"Ah, it looks like she's finally awake, friends," the demon announced in a voice that resembled the hissing of a teakettle crossed with that of a wild boar. "Let me introduce you to them…ah, what was your name again, Sailor Scout? Oh, that's right – _dinner!"_

"_Mmmm?! Mmmmmmmmm!!"_ Ami screamed into her cruel gag, her heart frozen into icy terror at the creature's brutal words! At her understandable reaction, a chorus of sub-human laughter arose from the nearby circle of similar creatures seated on twisted logs around a large, flat-topped boulder.

The demon squeezed her smooth, soft, pale left cheek with his scaly right hand as her body jerked and thrashed beneath his clawed fingers. "Ah, yes! There's nothing like the added ingredient of fear to add succulence to the fresh meat," he gloated, then he gripped the frantically writhing Ami by her blue hair, pulling her head up and back, and placed a ten centimeter long, wickedly hooked claw against her taut white throat.

"She's just about ready now, don't you agree?"

"Just get on with it, Azuriel," one of his seated companions growled out. "We're hungry over here!"

And so he did.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Later on, as they finished their horrific meal and leant back in well filled contentment, the circle of demons could not help but agree with the secret sentiments of many a man whom had surreptitiously watched Ami in the past – that the blue-haired, soft-eyed, long-legged young schoolgirl genius was – or rather had been – _incredibly tasty._

_Even tastier than the dark-haired man with the black hat and cape and white mask, who had wandered through the portal and into their clutches two nights ago, had been._


	6. Chapter 6

**This Chapter also has a 'M' version under 'Sailor Moon: D - The 'M' Version Chapters' .**

**WARNING: The 'M' version contains more adult content and it is suitable for Mature Readers only!**

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER SIX**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Unaware of Sailor Mercury's horrific fate, at the Hikawa Shrine, Artemis and Luna were busy marshalling their meagre remaining forces. Even Yuichiro had been called in to help, for now Ami had seemingly vanished off the face of the earth as well. The little group had tried phoning everywhere that they thought that she could possibly be – her apartment, Usagi's house, the hospital where her mother worked, the library, even the Crown Game Center, all for naught. In desperation, Rei had even tried calling both Naru Osaka and then Umino Gurio, Usagi's bespectacled class nerd and resident know-it-all, but even _he_ had no idea where Ami could have gone so suddenly.

"I think that it's high time that we turned our attention to an immediate and serious clean up of this town, Artemis," Luna declared angrily. "Now Ami's missing, too, and I'm sure that something bad has happened to her as well!"

"You're right, Luna. And it's long overdue! We've been so busy fighting Youma and other unworldly threats that we've forgotten all about our own human evil lurking right here in Tokyo. And now, as you said, three of the sailor scouts are missing, Usagi has been seriously assaulted and has had her Sailor Moon Transformation locket stolen, and Tuxedo Kamen is apparently also missing. In fact, he hasn't been seen for a week." Artemis paused and looked grimly around at the small circle of faces surrounding him.

"Now, I've no Idea when the four Outer Senshi will be arriving here, and because of our little communications problem I still haven't been able to contact any of our missing girls, so far. That just leaves Luna, Mars and me able to track them down and also avenge Usagi. So-!"

"_Ahem!_ Ah, Cat-Dude…?"

"Hmm? Yes, sorry! And you too, Yuichiro, and Grandpa Hino as well, at a pinch."

"_Wick-kedd!_ I'm in," Yuichiro grinned, nodding his dark mop of hair with delight. "But Grandpa left today for his autumn festival at the Ikaro-Onsen Hot Spring, remember? He won't be back for a week."

"Oh, that's right?" Rei gasped out. "With all that's been going on around here recently, I'd clean forgotten about that."

"Never fear, I'm still here, Rei, Babe."

"_Brave lad,"_ Rei Hino half-heartedly joked. "Home alone all by yourself, eh, Yuichiro-kun?"

"_Ahem!_ Anyway, as of now, we're going to be all over the Black Cap Yakuza like a rash!" Artemis growled out. "We already know that one of them sexually assaulted Usagi. And if we even get a sniff that they're responsible for abducting Minako, Makoto and Ami as well, we'll take them all down like a ton of bricks!"

But, unknown to the grim circle of avengers at the shrine, things were about to go from bad to much, much worse…

-:-:-:-:-:-

Back at the Tsukino household, Usagi suddenly awoke with a jolt from her restless sleep. _She could feel the pressure of a big, hard hand pressed tightly against her mouth!_

"Hello again, Sweetie. I told you that I'd be seeing you again real soon," a rough male voice whispered into her ear. "I've been thinking about you all day!"

At the sickeningly familiar sound of his voice and the smell of the alcohol on his breath, Usagi's entire body froze to glacial ice as she realised with paralysing terror what was happening.

_Oh, somebody help me! It's the man from the alley! He's found me again! Luna, Tuxedo Kamen! Anybody!_

"You see this?" he held a sharp looking knife up in front of her face, the blade barely visible in the dim light of her bedroom. "This house is full of my men. Nobody but you and I know that they're here yet. Now listen carefully. If you scream, try to struggle, or even look at me in a way that I don't like, then your family are all dead. You will be, too. Have you got that, girlie?"

Usagi nodded dumbly. She couldn't endanger her dear family. _Thank all the gods that Chibiusa-chan had gone back to the future that afternoon - at least she was safe!_

"Good. Now I'm going to remove my hand from your mouth. You are going to get up out of bed and keep your mouth shut." He touched the knife to her throat in warning. "Remember what I just told you about keeping quiet. Your life and the lives of your whole family depend on it. Understand?"

Once more, poor Usagi just nodded, wide blue eyes streaming terrified tears. There was nothing else that she could do. She had lost her locket – she wasn't Sailor Moon any more.

"You're mine now," he told Usagi as she failed to suppress a tiny gasp of fear. "You're now the property of the Black Cap Yakuza!"

_Oh, please, no! _She cried out silently to herself._ Please, just let me die? Let me die!_

Her terror was too much for poor Usagi. Her eyes rolled back in her head and mercifully she passed out into darkness, slumping back down onto her bed in a limp heap.

As she did so, two other men silently entered Usagi's room, pulled the senseless girl up off her bed, then gagged her and bound her hands tightly behind her back. Usagi had come back to consciousness once again just as this had happened, and to her horror she realized that what was happening to her wasn't some ghastly dream – it was real!

_Oh, no, no, no, no!_ Her shattered mind screamed._ This can't be happening to me…? Nooooo!_

"Okay, Sweetie, enough drama. Now you're coming with us." The knife was once again at her throat. "Just remember about your family. Start walking, quietly! _Or else!"_

Usagi nodded dazedly. She forced her legs into motion.

Once outside the quiet and still two-storied house, Usagi was bundled into the back of a panel van and forced to lie flat on its carpeted floor. Her four abductors climbed in after her and then the vehicle's engine quietly rumbled into life.

"_Good girl,"_ 'Cream Man' told her, in a rare good humor, from the front passenger seat of the now-moving van. "As promised, your family will live. Say goodbye to your old life – you won't be seeing it or your family or friends ever again. You belong to us, now."

Usagi just lay there on the floor where she had been placed; eyes wide open with shock, and wept bitter tears for herself and her previous childlike innocence, now irretrievably lost forever.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Nice," _Shateigashira_ (Regional Boss) Sadao Fujimori agreed, standing up and walking around Usagi to study her face and figure from all angles. _"Very nice…!_ So what's your name, anyway, girl?"

"U-Usagi, Sir."

"Usagi? _Rabbit?_ Yeah, that figures with those long pigtails of yours. You _are_ a looker - all you need is a fluffy tail and you could be in _Playboy._ 'Cream Man', you're right, she _is_ in the same class as that other blonde honey-bun the boys grabbed last night, just outside of here…"

_Other blonde girl?_ Usagi thought numbly to herself. _Who could that be…?_

"Told you so," her abductor laughed, pinching Usagi's right buttock and making her jump with fright.

"Anyway, Usagi, you and her are going to make us a hell of a lot of money once we put you to work! Heck, I might even shell out for you myself, once I find a bit of spare time."

The Regional Boss moved back around and sat back down again on his chair behind his scuffled desk. "All right, I'd really like to look at Usagi for a while longer, but unfortunately I've got work to do. Irashima-san, put her clothes back on her again, then take her upstairs and put her with that other girl in the concealed room. 'Cream Man', wait here for a minute. I want to have a talk with you."

Once the others had left the room, Fujimori gestured for his subordinate to take a spare seat in front of his desk. Once the other yakuza had done so, he leant forward, hands interlaced together on the desktop.

"Good job with this one, 'Cream Man'. I had my doubts over whether this little sortie of yours would be worth it, but Usagi's a real prize catch all right! That tip-off that you received from your mystery friend as to her location was right on the button. So who is he, anyway?"

"I dunno, Fujimori-sama. But he hasn't let me down yet…!"

"Hmmm? Well, whoever he is, he's sure done us a favor with us catching Usagi. I think that I'll send her and Minako over to our establishment on Hanamichi-dori Avenue in Kabukicho District. A lot of our rich customers go there, and these two'll be real popular with the moneymen, that's for sure! The House will make a real pile for us with them there."

"So we're not keeping them here for a few days?" 'Cream Man' inquired, looking surprised. "Some of the gang won't be too happy about that. They were looking forward to sampling Usagi, as well as spending more quality time with Minako. And so was I!"

"I'd like to, believe me. But this bar has been attracting a little too much attention recently, and that fight and shooting last night was just about the final straw. I've had advance warning that the Juuban Police are thinking about getting a legal warrant to search the building inside and out, and I don't want those girls here when they do. So I want them gone by midnight tonight at the latest."

"Hold on, Boss. I found Usagi and captured her, remember? That gives me a say in what happens to her. And I'm not overjoyed at the thought of sending Usagi to a Fashion-Health Club in Kabukicho unless I can get unlimited access to her for free when she's not making us money with a customer. And I also want a cut of that money, too."

The Yakuza Regional Boss leant back in his chair and puffed at his cigarette as he eyed his subordinate. 'Cream Man' was a valuable enforcer for his branch, and he had no desire to see any disunity develop over such a trivial matter as this. "Okay. How much?"

"Let's say – I'm not a greedy man – thirty percent of her take."

"Make it twenty-five percent and you got a deal. That's the same as my cut, the house gets another twenty-five percent, and the last goes to Head Branch."

"What do you think the customers will pay for her in the sack?"

"Hard to say, and the house sets the prices. But I'd be very, very surprised if a looker like her didn't make forty thousand yen per half an hour. Minako, too. That would make your cut from Usagi at least ten thousand yen per pop! Mine, as well." _Shateigashira_ Fujimori smiled with satisfaction at the monetary sum.

"_Hmpf?_ Fair enough. _Deal!"_

"All right, I'll arrange it all for you. We'll move them both out later tonight, once the main strip quietens down a bit. Until then, she's all yours, unless you want to share her around with the others?"

"Tell you what, I've got a sweet idea. I'd like to put her together with that other blonde sweetie, Minako, in the same bed at the same time with me for a while. It might be interesting to see what develops, if you know what I mean?"

"Man, I thought that you just said that you weren't greedy?" the _Shateigashira_ laughed. "Oh, all right! Let's just say that it's an added bonus for your good work tonight – and don't forget to show me the photos! Just have them both ready to go in two hours, okay?"

"No problems at all, Boss." 'Cream Man' grinned, realising exactly why he had the best job in the world. A good boss, plenty of money and liquor, and a warm bed with a pair of young, sexy schoolgirls for relaxation! What more could a man ask for? It was a real pity that he couldn't claim Minako as his property, too, but since he hadn't even had a hand in her capture, after tonight he'd just have to pay for her services like the rest of the customers at the Fashion Health Club. But in the meantime, he'd better make good use of both girls' bodies right now, while he had the chance!

-:-:-:-:-:-

Minako heard the door of the hidden room open once again, jolting her back awake from her uneasy slumber. She didn't bother to turn her head to face whomever it was paying her a visit – after all, it was probably just another yakuza member, there to make use of her body.

"Hey, I know you – Minako-chan? _Minako-chan!" _A very familiar voice screamed out!

"Wha-? _Usagi-chan!"_ Minako exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with both surprise and barely hidden fear. _"Oh, no, they've caught you too…!"_

Usagi flew to her friend's side, her own terrible ordeal forgotten for the moment at her concern for her naked and bound friend.

"_Minako-chan! What-what have they done to you? Oh, Minako…!"_

"They've been…using my body…for most of last night. Luckily, I passed out and missed a lot of what they did to me. And I've been sleeping for most of the day, with only the occasional visit from one or another of…them. I think that they're letting me regain my strength for another big…_session_…later tonight, once the bar downstairs closes…?!" Minako's quavering voice trailed off into silence. "But Bunny-chan, how did they manage to get you again? I would have thought that the others would have kept you safe?"

"I got kidnapped from my own bedroom only an hour ago," Usagi bitterly told her, tugging uselessly at the chains that bound Minako's hands to the steel headboard frame. "They brought me here and told me that I was working for them now. I did overhear that they had grabbed another blonde girl, but I didn't think that it would have been you, Minako-chan!" Turning to the bemused guard who had accompanied her into the room, she snapped out, "And why is my poor friend chained to that bed? She can't hurt you. Please, _please _just unchain her and leave us in peace?"

"You're pretty feisty for a new girl," The guard retorted. "'Cream Man' was right, you are going to be well worth taming down – and I'm looking forward to doing just that when it's my turn with you…!" He licked his lips at the thought.

"_Leave her alone!"_ Minako cried out angrily, then her voice cut out in shock as her mind finally registered the name that the hood had just told her. "Wait a minute…_whose name did you just say?"_

"What? You mean, _'Cream Man'?_ He's the one who caught this cheeky little piece of fluff here. But you should know him – he spent most of last night on top of you."

"_Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda?!"_

"Yep. Pride of the Black Cap Yakuza _– not!"_

Minako's head thumped back down onto the pillow, and she shut her eyes in loathing as old, bad memories came flooding back into her mind.

The history of Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda and her went way back, to even before she had returned to Japan. He had been working for another criminal organization in London at the time of their first meeting, and she was still fighting crime as Sailor V. Whilst investigating a drug deal in the docklands, she had fallen into a devious trap, and been knocked unconscious by a swinging beam.

When the younger Minako had come to, she had found herself in big trouble. Her mask had not been removed, but her sailor top and other clothes had been. And to her terror, on top of her chained, sprawled out body as she came to had been the thug whom she later found out to be 'Cream Man' Oda – the self-same yakuza who had been enjoying her again just last night!

She hadn't heard what his name was at all during last night's terrible session. Furthermore, he looked very different now from what he had before in England, with his shaven head and his body tattoos, and the extra thirty pounds or so of solid muscle that he had packed on his previously average-sized frame. No wonder that she hadn't recognised him before this revelation…

_And since he never saw my face under the mask in London, he doesn't recognise me either…! Not yet, anyway…!_

"Oh, and I certainly haven't finished with you yet, either – Minako, wasn't it?" their guard spoke up, jolting Minako's chaotic thoughts back into the real world. "But since we're moving you both out of here tonight, you'll have your hands free for awhile, soon enough."

"You're moving us, _Hentai?_ To where?"

"_Disneyland,"_ he snapped out, annoyed at being labelled a pervert by a mere sex worker like her. "You'll find out soon enough!"

"If it's Disneyland, then you must be Goofy," Minako shot back. "And since I've also seen Dumbo, and the seven mental Dwarfs here as well, I thought that I'd already arrived, _Baka!"_

"_Why you-!"_

Just then the door opened, saving the helpless Minako from the consequences of her rash words. Both girls' faces paled and fell as Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda, himself, strolled back into the room.

"All right, Irashima-san, you can take a break, "he told the angry guard. "_Shateigashira_ Fujimori-sama has given me permission to spend some quality time alone with these two gold pieces."

"Yeah? Lucky bastard! All right, give them both one for me while you're at it." Turning, he shot Minako an evil look, and then exited the room.

"Hi, you two Sweeties." He snapped his fingers at Usagi, who visibly recoiled from him at the look in his eye. "Hurry up, take off your pajamas and get into the sack with her."

"_N-nani?"_ Usagi queried in shock, hands flying to her mouth!

"Hurry up, you stupid girl. I said take off your clothes and get into the bed with Minako! They're shipping you two out of here in a couple of hours, so if I'm going to get the two of you into a decent length session with me, it has to be now. So just do it, you're wasting time!"

"_You bastard!" _Minako whispered up at him with absolute loathing on her beautiful face, as he first unchained her right hand with the key that he produced from his pants pocket, and then started to remove his own clothes. _"Just what are you planning on making us do…?"_

Instead of replying, 'Cream Man' yanked out his knife. _"Move it!"_ he shouted angrily at the still-hesitant Usagi. "And as for _you,_ Minako, don't _ever _talk to me like that again - unless you _want_ to be screaming in agony for the next few minutes? I know how to punish you without leaving a mark on your body - and you should know by now that I _will_ do it!"

"_B-but…?"_ Usagi started to protest, dropping to her knees, sweat pouring from her forehead. "Minako-chan's my friend! I…_that is-!"_

"So you're both friends, huh? It figures, girls who look like you two do _always_ know each other. And that just makes it more interesting for me, then, doesn't it? _Now, strip!_ _I'm not telling you again…!"_

"Usagi-chan. _Bunny-chan!"_ Minako called out urgently to her, recognising with fear the look in 'Cream Man's' eyes and knowing that they both were now on _very_ thin ice. "It'll be alright. Just – just do as he says, okay? _Please?_ If you don't, he'll hurt you bad…!"

Trembling, Usagi removed her long, pink, cotton pajamas, letting them drop unheeded in a crumpled heap at her small feet.

"_About time!_ Now get in the bed!"

"_N-no…! I can't, I-!"_

Minako closed her tearful eyes, and whispered, "We have no choice. Bunny-chan, whatever he's going to do to us now won't kill us. But if we don't do it, _he might._ It's all right, Bunny-chan. I - just get in, okay?"

Shaking like a leaf, Usagi climbed into the bed, her and Minako's trembling bodies pressing tightly together.

'Cream Man' relaxed and grinned at the _very_ stimulating sight of the two blonde schoolgirls in front of him, with their huge, fearful blue eyes. He re-sheathed his wicked-looking knife. "Now, that's more like it! Now make room for me in there too."

Usagi raised her head up and stared at him with her huge, pleading eyes. "Please don't do this to us?" she cried out in horrified shame. "_I'm begging you! Please?!"_

"I own you. You've got no say in the matter. Now shove over!"

And then the burly tattooed yakuza fulfilled his wish.


	7. Chapter 7

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER SEVEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

For Usagi and Minako, the next hour was a chaotic jumble of perversion and pain after 'Cream Man' Oda had joined them both in the bed. And when it was finally over, both girls prayed that they would be able to, somehow, block the memory of him and what he had just made them do to him and to each other in that bed out of their minds forever.

Their seemingly endless ordeal had finally come to a halt when a loud, insistent knock had been heard at the door_. "Yo, 'Cream Man'! Get your lazy ass up outta that bed and get the girls showered! They're out of here in fifteen minutes!"_

"_Damn,"_ he swore to himself, after raising his head and shouting out an affirmative. "Time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?" Then he turned his attention back to the crying girls, now locked tightly for comfort in each other's arms.

"Well, you heard the man? All good times must come to an end. Usagi, you go shower first. Then, Minako, I'll unchain your other hand and it's your turn. And if you try to jump me, they'll be carrying you out of here with a well-tanned backside! You hear me?"

"_Yes…"_

"Yes, _what?"_

"Yes, Sir…!" she sobbed, eyes downcast.

"That's better. You'd better start showing me some respect."

While Usagi frantically tried to scrub the feeling of uncleanliness from her aching body under the soothing hot water in the curtained shower, she couldn't help thinking back to what her and Minako had been forced to do with each other. Her very shocked and confused subconscious mind began to drift and wander, before unknowingly straying into forbidden territory…

_Minako-chan had been so gentle, and her gorgeous body had been so soft and comfortable under me…! I could actually feel her warmth and love and concern for me as we were forced to make love to each other…I wish that we both could…?_

_Wait a minute! What am I thinking?! I – I'm not like that…I'm not! Am I…? Minako-chan and me…no! Nonononono, we can't…!_

Usagi stayed in the shower for as long as she dared, drying herself off with a towel and redoing her pigtails, before exiting it and hurriedly re-dressing into her pink pajamas. Her right hand was then securely chained to the headboard bar and Minako's left hand freed.

As she took her turn under the steaming hot water, Minako's unbidden thoughts followed much the same path as Usagi's had done. Revulsion at what they had been forced to endure at 'Cream Man's' hands, followed by fond thoughts of her poor friend…

_Oh, Bunny-chan…I wish that I could have protected you from this abuse…? You're so kind and gentle and loving…! It was far better in your arms and feeling your kisses and love and concern for me than being raped by that evil yakuza bastard who hopped into bed with us as well!_

_Usagi-chan, I really love you…and-oh?! Heeey! Did I really just think that? I don't really think of loving Bunny-chan that way, do I? Her and I together in a loving relationship? Could it happen…? No! It can't…we're not that way inclined…!"_

Calming her jumbled, disturbing thoughts with an effort as 'Cream Man' yelled at her to hurry up, Minako hurriedly turned off the shower, dried herself off, and with nothing to wear except another towel was led back to the bed. There she had her left hand chained again to the headboard rail, after which their captor took his turn under the hot water.

"Minako-chan?" Usagi whispered uneasily to her, leaning close so as not to be heard by the whistling yakuza in the hissing shower. "What we had to do…us together in that bed…_I'm… I -!_ Minako-chan, I don't know what to say. What we did with each other…_was it -?"_

"It's okay, Bunny-chan," Minako replied, trying hard to conceal her own conflicting emotions from her dear friend. "It – wasn't too bad. _It felt much, much better than with him._ But, Bunny-chan?"

"Yes, Minako-chan…?"

"Let's just keep what we did with each other our little secret, okay? It'd be for the best if no one else knows about it, I think? _Do you-?"_

"_Yes,"_ Usagi agreed, realising that they would both now always share a special, secret bond with each other because of what they had endured together. "That _would_ be for the best!"

"_What are you two yapping about out there? Your love for each other, or for me?"_

"_N-nothing, Sir!"_ The two girls called back nervously.

'Cream Man' started to whistle again. Usagi and Minako fearfully eyed each other and let out twin sighs of relief.

"_Bunny,"_ Minako suddenly hissed out. "Look!"

"_What? What is it?"_ Usagi gasped, her blonde head turning in all directions, pigtails flying. "Oh? He's left his pants on the table just over there…"

"Yes! Quick, can you reach that leg with your free hand?" Minako whispered urgently. "The key to these handcuffs is in his right pocket, and so's the one he used to get through the door!"

"I – think so? Hold on!"

Straining mightily, Usagi's fingers finally managed to close on the yakuza's trouser leg. As quietly as she could, Usagi pulled the long pants off the tabletop and across the floor towards her.

"Got it! And here's the key to our handcuffs!" Quickly, Usagi freed herself from her restraint, and then passed the key on to Minako, who did the same with her own handcuff. The instant that she was free, Minako rolled off the bed and slipped across the floor to the side dresser on which her clothes had been stacked. Quickly she began to put them on, rummaging through her pockets as she did so.

"But do you really think that we can both fight our way out of here, Minako-chan?" Usagi asked in a low, worried tone, throwing a terrified glance towards the steamy, still running shower, a content chorus of loud whistles still emanating from it. "I don't have my locket and I'm not as good at martial arts as you are…!"

"Yes! With this we can!" Minako held up what looked to be a very fancy pen. "I lost my Henshin stick outside so I can't turn into Sailor Venus. But with my original Transformation pen, here, I _can _still turn into Sailor V!"

"_All right!"_ Usagi exclaimed, a sudden urge of hope and adrenalin momentarily banishing her previous fear and her awareness of the precariousness of their situation. "But what about me? I have no locket to change into Sailor Moon with, anymore."

"I've got an idea about that, too. Here's my disguise compact." She passed the object to Usagi, who looked at it with curiosity. "If you use it to change into a yakuza, and if I stay like this with my hands handcuffed again like I'm still a prisoner, we might be able to just walk straight out of this room, and maybe even out of the whole building without being stopped…!"

"Do you really think that it will be as easy as that?"

"No, but if and when things turn nasty, I'll change straight into Sailor V and cover you while you slip away."

"Okay, it's worth a try. How does it work? I'll change right now, while you put the handcuffs back on."

"Just say _'Crescent Moon Power Transform'_ and _'change me into a yakuza with a suit, hat and moustache'_, or something like that," Minako instructed Usagi as she removed the other ring of her handcuffs from the metal frame. Then she clicked the handcuffs loosely shut around her own wrists again and moved towards the door with its key in her hand. "But do it quietly!"

As Usagi morphed into her disguise, Minako, after listening for a moment to reassure herself that the corridor beyond was empty, unlocked the door and swung it open just enough to peek out into the hallway beyond. "Coast is clear! Come on, Bunny-chan, let's go!"

"Well, how do I look? Am I a real gangster, or what?"

"Yeah, you make a great yakuza. Nice touch with the sunglasses, too, Bunny-chan. _Very sinister._ Okay, I'll go first and then you follow behind me as if you're guarding me – _oh, no!"_

_The sound of the running shower had abruptly cut out!_

A moment later, the curtain of the shower box was drawn back and 'Cream Man' stepped out in a cloud of steam onto the bath mat in the room, drying his cropped hair with a towel. Instantly, the burly, tattooed yakuza slammed to a halt as his eyes took in the sight of Minako, dressed in her original clothes but with her hands still handcuffed in front of her, standing next to a short, slim, moustached stranger in a black hat, long, bulky coat and dark sunglasses.

"_What the-?! Who're you? And where's Usagi gone?"_

"_Um…?" _Usagi stuttered, thinking as fast as she ever had in her life! "_Ah_ - I'm one of the guys from Kabukicho come to take the two girls to the Fashion-Health Club," she explained, trying to make her voice sound as deep and as gruff as she could make it. "The other girl is outside the door with another of the fellows, see?"

"Oh? I see…? You're here already? _Hey!_ How come I didn't hear you come in to the room?"

"Well, you were whistling so loud then, I'm surprised that you didn't deafen yourself," Usagi explained, sweat dropping and grasping at straws. "And we didn't want to call out to you and disturb such a lovely tune…!"

"_Oh, Ha, ha!"_ He growled good-naturedly, thinking that the short stranger was just being sarcastic. And there was really nothing for him to be suspicious about - after all, there was no possible way that this stranger could have made it this far into the building if he wasn't a friend. "Look, I'm sorry that I was a little late in getting them out for you, but we were all having a little too much fun earlier on playing _'Twister'_ in the bed, I'm afraid." He laughed at his own comment, and then asked if they needed a hand taking the two girls down to the car.

"_No, no, it'll be fine,"_ Usagi hastily reassured him in her manly tone of voice, quickly pushing Minako through the open doorway. "Besides," she pointed down at his unclothed state, trying hard not to blush. "You haven't even put your clothes on yet…"

"Yeah, good point," 'Cream Man' conceded, covering himself with the sodden white towel. "I'd best stay here and get dressed – not that I've got anything to be ashamed of, of course – as those two girls could easily tell you!" He winked, and then added, "Goodbye, Minako! Make sure that you tell your little friend, Usagi, that I'll be visiting you both again real soon!"

"_He fell for it,"_ the heavily disguised Usagi bubbled out as they both hurried down the hallway towards a window, which, hopefully, opened out onto a fire escape. "Am I an Idol actress, or what?"

"Let's celebrate _after_ we get away," Minako told her, halting at the barred window. "Darn! No escape this way. We're just going to have to keep going and hope for the best."

"Maybe you should just change into Sailor V now, blow the window and jump with me on your back?" Usagi suggested, willing to risk anything to get out of that building of horrors, fast.

"No, the drop is way too far. We're on the third floor. I could make it but there's too much of a chance of you being seriously injured, Bunny-chan. Don't forget that you're our Princess and I'd never forgive myself if I let you get hurt."

"Okay, lets keep moving, then. I don't think that our luck can hold out much longer…!"

"This way," Minako instructed Usagi, turning down a corridor at right angles to the first one. "Through those doors at the end and down the staircase behind them. That's the way they brought me up here, I think? The staircase leads directly to a side door of the building where it opens out into an alley."

Despite their understandable fear that they would run into a gang member or three on the staircase, the handcuffed Minako and her heavily disguised 'yakuza' companion made it down to the doorway without incident. Once there, they found out with relief that the heavy door was bolted from the inside, but luckily otherwise unlocked.

Minako threw the bolts and inched the door open just enough to take a quick look in both directions. The way to their left was clear, but to their right, three men – obviously yakuza - were lounging at the road end of the alley, smoking. So far the trio were inoblivious to the two lurking girls behind the door, but the very presence of the three gangsters near the road effectively cut off any thoughts of escape in that direction.

"We'll have to go left, towards that car park at the other end of this alley," Minako informed Usagi. It's pretty dark out there, so if we hug the shadows against this wall and don't make any noise, we should be able to make a clean getaway through that car park!"

"Gotcha! I'm ready."

"Hold on…no need for these handcuffs, now…!" Minako pulled her hands out of the loosely fitted links and dropped the restraints quietly down onto the wooden floor. "Okay, let's go."

The two fugitive girls crept out of the unlit doorway, down the steps, and then swiftly moved off in the opposite direction to the cigarette-puffing men.

"_Brrrr!_ It's cold out here," Usagi whispered, shivering. "I can feel it even through my coat."

"Just hold on, Bunny-chan. We're almost away..."

The two girls ducked around the far corner of the alley into the poorly lit car park. Several diverse vehicles were parked there, a couple of vans, three or four powerful late model cars – and a bright red classic vehicle that brought an involuntary whistle to Minako's lips.

"_Usagi-chan, look!_ That red car's a Shelby Mustang! I never expected to see one of those here in Tokyo. _Oh, wow!_ It's the 1968 Cobra GT 500 KR model, too… See, it's written tight there under the door."

"That funny looking old car's a '_what's-it-now'?"_ Usagi asked, staring uncomprehendingly at the sleek lines of the old but extremely powerful American muscle car over the top of her disguise sunglasses. "It looks as solid as a rock…?"

"It's also fast," Minako informed her, running over to stare through the left side driver's window of the squat monster. "Look, it's got the black vinyl interior, front bucket seats and four-speed stick shift, too! _Oh, wow,_ I'd love to take this baby out for a spin…!"

"Hey, we're supposed to be escaping, here," Usagi protested, ducking down behind the solid-looking car and tugging urgently at her friend's sleeve. "We don't have time to look at this old car, Minako-chan. Let's make tracks before we're spotted…!"

"You're right," Minako reluctantly admitted. "Let's get – _hey!_ The door's unlocked…!"

"That's dumb. But then again, who's going to want to steal this clunky old thing?"

"I do! This car's a fully restored classic, Bunny-chan. I'd love to have it. And it's worth a lot of money, too."

"A lot?"

"_A lot!"_

"Okay…?" Usagi conceded, looking impressed even as she threw frightened glances towards the so far silent building across the dim parking lot. "But you'd never be able to steal it anyway, you don't have the key."

"I don't need one," Minako informed her, opening the door and sticking her blonde head inside the car to stare with interest at the wood grain dashboard and console. "Artemis showed me how to start an engine without a key years ago, when I first became Sailor V. And I can handle one as well."

"You're saying that you can drive a car, too? _How come?_ You're too young to have a car license, Minako-chan…! And so am I."

Minako grinned back at Usagi's dumbfounded look. "Artemis taught me that, as well."

"But he's a cat!"

"Artemis knows everything. He's a great teacher!"

"Gee, I wish that Luna would take the time to teach _me_ something fun and useful like that, too?" Usagi wailed out with envy. "All that she cares about is making me finish my homework and getting to school on time…!"

"_Hey! What's going on out there?"_ A loud voice suddenly yelled out from an upstairs window of the bar! Looking up with fright, Usagi and Minako saw a man leaning out of an illuminated window of the building, angrily staring down at them!

"_Oh, crap!"_ Minako exclaimed. "Bunny-chan, get in!"

"_Nani?!"_

"Our best chance of getting away now is to make a break for it in this car! On foot, we'll be too easy a target for them, especially since you can't change into Sailor Moon." Minako swiftly jumped into the drivers seat and began to fiddle with the ignition wires under the dashboard. "_Come on, let's go!"_

The crack of a gun and the whining ricochet of a bullet bouncing off the tarmac made Usagi's mind up for her in a hurry! Running around to the passenger side door, she flung it open and climbed in, just as the cars engine erupted into life with a deep-throated rumble.

"_Got it,"_ Minako whooped with joy. "Hey, if this car really _is _the Cobra GT 500 KR model, then it must have a 428 Cobra Jet V-8 engine in it…? That's 335 horsepower, so you'd better buckle yourself in, Usagi-chan, if you don't want to end up on the fold down back seat when we take off? We're outta here!"

"_This car's got a jet engine in it?"_ Usagi exclaimed, hurriedly grabbing for her seat belt, her eyes the size of saucers and a big bead of sweat forming on her forehead.

"No, that's just the name of the engine. But it'll take us from zero to about sixty miles an hour in about six seconds if I floor it, so hold on! Okay, headlights on, handbrake off – here we go!"

Thrusting her foot down onto the clutch pedal, Minako worked the stick shift below and to the right of the steering column into first gear, and then carefully released the clutch again, pressing her other foot down onto the accelerator….

The massive car roared, and lurched forward, throwing both girls back in their seats with a jolt! Quickly, Minako engaged the clutch again before the monster engine could stall out and stop.

"_Whoops, too much throttle…!"_ Minako giggled nervously as the car rolled to a halt, the V-8 engine resuming its normal deep, throbbing beat. "Sorry, Bunny-chan…"

"_Never mind that,"_ Usagi anxiously replied, pointing her finger at the swarm of yakuza running out of the rear door of the building, and around the corner of the alley as well, in their direction! _"They're coming, they're coming!"_

"I see them," Minako gritted, concentrating hard. "I got it this time…!"

The red Shelby Cobra GT 500 leapt forward again, this time much more smoothly as Minako slowly released the clutch and gingerly inched her foot down onto the accelerator again. Spinning the steering wheel frantically, she managed to avoid ramming the bulky car into the chain link fence in front of them, then the car swerved with a throaty roar across the parking lot directly towards the crowd of shouting yakuza!

"_I'm going to blow right through them, Usagi-chan,"_ Minako shouted out, her voice a mixture of fear and excitement. _"Hold on!"_

"_Waaaah!"_

Two bullets came their way as the huge car bore down upon the frantically scattering crowd at a frightening rate of knots, and then they were safely past the men. Minako pointed the nose of the monster towards the rear entrance of the car park and thrust down onto the accelerator again. The big car roared, rapidly picking up speed – directly towards the car parking sign!

"_Waaaah! Watch out for that sign post, Minako-chaaan!"_

"_Whoops, sorry!" _her driver apologized, wrestling with the wheel. "It's been a while since I've actually driven any car at all, let alone a really big one like this…! But I think that I'm getting the hang of it, now-!"

The Shelby Cobra missed the sign by inches, and then bounced out onto the streetlight and neon-lit road beyond. With a squealing of brakes, the sweating Minako managed to avoid an oncoming car, and then she had the metal monster back under her control again. Pointing their stolen ride back in the direction that she and Makoto had come from the previous night, she quickly changed into second gear and stepped on the gas again.

"_Whew!_ I think that we got away safe, Bunny-chan…?" Minako sighed out with relief, trying hard to calm her shaking hands that were clutching the steering wheel so tightly that it hurt.

"Hey, how come you know so much about cars, anyway, Minako-chan?" Usagi asked with intense curiosity, controlling her own hammering heart with an effort after their _very_ close shave with the steel pole and the other car. "_Wait, _I know…Artemis taught you?"

"Actually, no," Minako told her, changing into third gear, the car accelerating faster towards their freedom with every passing second. "Haruka-san did…!"

"_Haruka Ten'ou-san?" _Usagi gasped out in surprise, staring bug-eyed at her companion. _"Sailor Uranus taught you all about them?"_

"Yeah. She's a real fan of sports cars – both new ones _and_ old …"

"Minako…? _Minako-chan! That car's coming directly towards us!"_ Usagi suddenly screamed out, pointing a shaky finger directly to their front, her fear-filled face under her hat thrown into stark relief by the sudden blaze of light from the approaching vehicle's headlights!

"_What the-?_ _Yikes!"_ Minako managed to swerve around the tooting vehicle just in time to avoid a head-on smash, throwing them both violently sideways in their seats. _"Heeey?_ That car was on the wrong side of the road!"

"_We're-gonna-die! We're-gonna-die! We're-gonna-die!"_

"Aren't you glad that you buckled in like I said, Usagi-chan?" Minako gasped out to her pale-faced friend, who was gripping the door armrest so tightly at their narrow escape that it was doubtful that even a crowbar could have managed to pry her white knuckled fingers loose from it.

"_Hah-huh, hah-huh, hah-huh,"_ Usagi panted with fright, trying hard to regain her normal breath. "T-try not to do that again, please, Minako-chan?"

"_Okay…! You bet…!"_

As the two girls raced off through the night on the now almost deserted street, the streetlamps throwing flickering strobes of light across their pale faces as they sped along, Usagi slowly began to relax again and a delighted smile spread across her disguised face.

"Minako-chan. We actually got away! We made it!"

"_Yeah!"_ her friend exclaimed, throwing Usagi a happy smile of her own before her eyes quickly returned to the headlight-lit road in front of their car. "We sure did! But we'd best keep a close watch behind us, just to be sure? I don't think that the yakuza are going to give up on us that easily, do you?"

"You're probably right," Usagi agreed. "If we go to the police, our testimony would blow their little kidnapping operation wide open and I'm sure that they don't want that to happen at all…? Hold on, I'll just change back from this yakuza disguise into the real me…!"

Once Usagi had changed back to her original form, pink pyjamas and all, she used Minako's Disguise Compact again to clothe herself in normal street clothes – in this case a thick sweater, long pants, a jacket, and sandshoes. Then, after handing the compact back to her friend, she set herself to watching in the rear view mirrors for any sign of pursuit.

"_Darn,"_ Minako suddenly exclaimed with annoyance, her sudden outburst causing Usagi to jump in her seat. "I've just remembered about my Sailor Venus Henshin Stick! It's back there somewhere in that alley, Usagi-chan. We should have taken the time to find it when we had the chance…!"

"Not with those three yakuza down the other end by the road," Usagi said, still holding on tightly to the armrest with both hands as the muscle car sped along, the deep seated vibration from the powerful V-8 engine sending tiny shivers up her slender arms and back. "It'll be far safer to let Artemis or Luna go back there to find it after we get to safety."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…?" Minako conceded, her face still looking a bit unhappy. "But I'm much more powerful as Sailor Venus than I am as Sailor V. And if we're going to be fighting against the yakuza – whom probably outnumber us by at least several hundred to one in Tokyo - we're going to need my Henshin stick, and fast!"

"Don't worry, Mina-chan, I'm sure that you'll get it back?" Usagi told her friend, laying her right hand upon Minako's right shoulder.

"Thanks, Bunny-chan," Minako smiled, bringing the car to a stop at a set of red traffic lights. "But that reminds me…?" Her hand dipped into the right pocket of her jacket, to emerge with her handheld communicator. "Right now, I'd better contact Artemis and Luna and get us some help."

That was an excellent idea, and Usagi endorsed it with hopeful enthusiasm. But Minako hadn't counted on the communicator not working for some strange reason. All that she managed to raise after a couple of minutes of fruitless calling was the persistent crackle of static.

"I don't get it," she told Usagi in a puzzled voice. "I can't get through to any of the others at all. Maybe we're too far out of range for their communicators to pick me up…?"

"So we're on our own?" Usagi stated, a depressed look crossing her face at the thought.

The lights finally changed to green and Minako started their car rolling again. "Yes, but just for the moment, Bunny-chan." She gave her worried looking friend a smile of encouragement as the Shelby Cobra rapidly picked up speed again. "We'll be back with the others soon enough – if we manage to stay ahead of any pursuit, that is? But in _this_ car, that shouldn't be _too_ much of a problem!"

"Minako-chan, maybe you'd best change into Sailor V, right now, just in case?" Usagi suggested, still looking a little frightened. "I can't see any sign of the yakuza behind us yet, but I'm pretty sure that they _are _chasing us. And – and I'd feel a lot safer if you were her…!"

"Good point. Okay, where's my Sailor V Transformation Pen?" Quickly Minako rummaged through her jacket's right pocket again, her eyes still on the road, until she found the item that she wanted. Raising it up above her head with her right hand, her left one still firmly grasping the steering wheel, she shouted, _"Moon Power Transform!"_

Instantaneously, Minako Aino transformed in a flash of light into the beautiful Sailor V, the original, red-masked, sailor-suited crime fighter. At the sight of Minako-chan transforming into her idol, Usagi unconsciously clasped her hands together under her chin and her eyes grew as wide as her delighted smile. Her heart had started beating faster too, although Usagi hadn't noticed that had happened yet…

_It's Sailor V…! Gee, Minako-chan sure is lovely, isn't she…?_


	8. Chapter 8

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER EIGHT**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

The Shelby Cobra GT 500 sped along through the color-splashed night, making good time along the street despite the numerous stops at the traffic light controlled intersections, and also – more frighteningly - having to dodge the occasional car that seemed to be hurtling head on towards them on the wrong side of the multi-laned road. Fortunately, the street that the two still-anxious blonde girls were travelling along was almost totally deserted at this time of night, so these scary encounters were few and far between.

Inside the powerful old car, Usagi just sat there silently, deep in thought about her dear boyfriend, Mamoru Chiba, a.k.a. Tuxedo Karmen, and his puzzling lack of an appearance on her behalf. Usually he could somehow sense when she was in danger, and would always appear just in time to help her out or rescue her from whatever mess that she had managed to get herself into that time. But this time he hadn't showed up…! Why hadn't he, when she had so desperately needed his succour? Had something happened to him, too…?

Then Usagi's thoughts somehow turned to what Minako had told her earlier on during their escape. The notion that her lovely blonde friend had been spending a lot of time alone with the tall, attractive Haruka Ten'ou seemed to be also making her feel unhappy for some inexplicable reason…?

"Minako-chan?"

"Yes, Bunny-chan?"

"You said that Haruka-san taught you all about these classic cars?" Usagi remarked, desperately trying to sound casual. "So what did Michiru-san have to say about you spending that much time with her…partner?"

"What? Oh, she didn't mind, Bunny-chan. It's not as though Haruka and I were – _hey?!_ Were you thinking that…? _No, no, Bunny-chan, it wasn't anything like that…I swear!"_

_Whew!_ Usagi gasped out silently to herself, her own face turning as red as Sailor V's had under her red-eye mask at her unspoken implication. "Sorry, Minako-chan, I didn't mean to say that you and her were – well, you know?" _Was that a surge of relief that I just felt…? What's wrong with me…?_

"That's alright, you know that I like boys, not…_girls…"_

"_Good, good,"_ Usagi hastily reassured her crimson faced friend, although she felt a pang of what almost felt like disappointment in her chest as Sailor V's declaration of her preference. "I do, as well…"

_Why does what Minako-chan said just then, make me feel so unhappy? What does it mean? I don't understand my feelings…?_

_I wonder why Bunny-chan brought that subject up?_ Sailor V was at that very second wondering to herself. Stealing a quick sideways glance at her contrite looking fellow sailor scout, a twinge of disappointment also crossed her own face at Bunny's hasty reply.

_Bunny-chan is so cute… Was I hoping that she would say something different to me, just then…? If so…why…?_

"Minako-chan, where exactly are we?" Usagi suddenly asked, snapping out of her funk and looking curiously out her side window at the unfamiliar surroundings as they whizzed past what looked to be an industrial area on both sides of the road.

"I…I'm not sure…?" Sailor V replied, slowing down as she also paid more attention to the dimly lit outside world. "I don't recognize this area at all…! Things look very different at night, especially when you're driving a car, Bunny-chan."

"I don't recognize any landmarks around here, either. We must have missed our turnoff to the Hikawa Shrine, somehow, Minako-chan? I think that we're lost…?"

"No we're not. All we have to do is to turn this car around, and - _oh?!_ That would mean that we'd be headed straight back towards those yakuza creeps who are probably chasing us. And in this car, they'd spot us for sure!"

"What are we going to do? We can't do that!" Usagi implored, beginning to look frightened again at the thought of the yakuza finding them again.

"Don't worry, Bunny-chan. All we have to do is take the next side street and then double back the way that we came on the next parallel road. Look, here's an intersection coming up ahead! We'll turn to the right here, and then turn right again as soon as that road intersects with the next one, okay? Then we'll keep going until one of us spots a building or something that we recognize. Once that happens it'll be a piece of cake to get back to the shrine."

"Okay, Minako-chan. You're the driver…"

"Tell you what, Bunny-chan? Can you have a look in the glove box for me? You might be able to find a map or something in there?"

"Great idea, Minako-chan! Let's just see…?"

As Minako changed gears, slowing down to a stop at the traffic lights, bright orange indicators flashing her intended right turn, Usagi opened the glove box and rummaged through its shadowy interior. Her right hand closed on something hard and metallic feeling, so she pulled it out, and-!

"Sai-Sailor V! _L-look at this!"_

Minako snapped her eyes towards the frightened, huge-eyed girl next to her and her own eyes widened with surprise as well.

Usagi-chan was sitting there, right next to her, _holding a live grenade in her shaking right hand!_

"Bunny-chan! Be very careful! That's a grenade you've got…!"

"_I know! What do I do?!"_

"Don't panic, just put it carefully back where you found it," Sailor V told her, sweat pouring from her own forehead. "What the heck is that thing doing in this car?"

"I dunno…? I didn't find any map, but this gun was in there as well," Usagi stammered, holding up the small firearm in her other hand.

_I recognize that type of pistol... _Sailor V instinctively told herself, staring with interest at the piece. _That's a Jimenez Arms J.A.-380 'Saturday Night Special', single-action handgun! Typical gangster firearm, small and easily concealed… This car definitely belonged to one of those yakuza scum! But to which one…?_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_They stole my car?!"_ _Shateigashira_ Fujimori yelled out to his embarrassed looking subordinates. "How in the hell did Minako and Usagi even get out of their room, let alone this building, and steal my Shelby Cobra from right under our noses, you useless pack of _drunken,_ _troglodytic carbon blobs?!"_

"Some guy we thought was from the Fashion-Health Club showed up in the room and took Minako out while I was still in there having a shower," 'Cream Man' admitted, showing no offence at his boss's very understandable agitation at their undeniable dereliction of duty. "I didn't suspect anything, the skinny guy looked just like one of our operatives come to collect her. I don't know what happened to Usagi, though, she was gone from the room when I got out of the shower."

"Have you any idea of just how much it cost me to buy that car and get it shipped over here to Tokyo? The _cheek_ of those two girls! Luckily for me – _and you lot_ - I had a tracking beacon concealed in my car for just this eventuality." Reaching into one of his top drawers, the _Shateigashira_ pulled out a small, handheld electronic tracking device from it and passed it over to his men. "Take this scanner and go find them. Call up everyone that you need to, to do the job properly."

"But they'll be miles away from here by now?" one of his men pointed out to him. "They're probably well out of range of your tracking unit by now, as well? And we _have_ got a couple of cars out looking for them already, but I don't know if they've got two-way radios in them or not, so we probably can't contact them to co-ordinate their search with us…?"

"I don't care if you _goldbricking,_ _lawn sprinklers_ have to go over every road, street, lane, track, alley and avenue in Tokyo with a fine tooth comb," the _Shateigashira_ heatedly told them. "I want both Usagi and Minako in one piece safely in our Fashion-Health Club on Hanamichi-dori Avenue in Kabukicho, and my car safely back here, within the next hour. Or else, you sorry horde of _ketsunoana_ will be buying me a new one out of the money I'll be receiving from you, as you all take _multiple_ turns at the local blood bank! _Do I make myself clear…?"_

"I can't blame anyone but myself for my car getting stolen, though," Regional Boss Fujimori admitted out loud to himself with annoyance once his chastened men had left the room. "I'm the _baka kuso atama_ who forgot to lock the bloody side doors in the first place…! Still, with that tracking device inside my Shelby Cobra, those overly clever little girls will be caught again soon enough…!"

After pouring himself a stiff shot of rum from the bottle in his bottom desk drawer, the _Shateigashira_ relaxed a bit and leant back on his padded chair. As he thought about the two beautiful blonde girls having actually made a successful escape from his premises, against all odds, the ghost of a smile appeared on his lips and he let out an involuntary chuckle.

"_Heh, heh!_ Well, they both are certainly a handful…? Still, I can't help admiring their pluck…! If I wasn't already married, I might even think about-? But, how would I ever choose between them?"

_Or even want to…?!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Minako-chan…?"

"Yes, Bunny-chan?"

"There's a strange car behind us. It pulled out behind us from the wrong side of the road at that last set of traffic lights and now it's just sitting there on our tail…! And it followed us around the last two corners, so I'm getting a little worried. I think that there's at least three men in it…?"

"_Uh, oh!_ That sounds like it's a yakuza car tailing us?" Sailor V warned her, taking a quick look backwards in her rear vision mirror. "Hold on, I'll just turn up here and see if it follows us? If it does, we may be in big trouble…?"

Suddenly spinning the steering wheel, Minako sent the red Shelby Cobra into a sudden, fast turn into an unlit, one-way side lane. With a screeching of brakes and the squealing of rubber on the asphalt surface of the road, the second car swerved in behind them!

"_They're on to us! Hold on, Bunny-chan!"_ Pushing down hard on the accelerator, Sailor V sent the powerful old car leaping forward down the dark access way like it had been fired from a catapult. Instantly, the other car picked up speed as well, racing after them like a hound on the hunt, all pretense of innocence forgotten!

"_Waaah-haaah-haaaaah!"_ Usagi cried out in fear as the access way narrowed even more, the solid brick walls of its flanking buildings whipping past the car on either side in a dark blur. "I hate this part!"

"Relax, Bunny-chan," Sailor V called out to her, obviously enjoying the wild ride. "I've got it all under control!"

The huge car erupted out of the opposite entrance, bounced over a stack of rubbish boxes in a shower of garbage onto another road, and roared off to the right again at a rapidly increasing speed as Sailor V floored the gas pedal. The speedometer spun to the right and the sheer speed of their reckless acceleration pinned both girls back hard against their seats!

"_Yeeehah!_ Now _that's_ what I'm talking about, Bunny-chan!"

"They're still on our tail, Minako-chan! I can still see their headlights…!"

"Hmmm! I don't know what that car is, or what it's got under its hood, but it probably has a fuel injected V6 motor in it, anyway?" Sailor V mused, spinning the Shelby Cobra into another tight, right handed turn through another set of red lights. The powerful classic car dodged to the left, scraping past one waiting car in its lane, and then slalomed around a couple of others that were headed directly towards them with a twin blaze of headlights and a fanfare of honking horns, nearly causing Usagi to have a heart attack!

"_Mi-Minako-chan?_ _P-please be careful…? I don't wanna die!" _

Somehow the other car made it through the traffic lights and the two swerving cars behind them as well, and continued on after the fleeing girls, unable to gain on the powerful classic muscle car but not falling much behind it, either.

After throwing a scared glance back over her shoulder at their relentless pursuers, squinting into their bright headlights, Usagi turned her wide, frightened eyes back to her friend as she wrestled the car through another tight, right hand turn.

"Minako-chan? How come you're only turning to our right all of the time?"

"Because we can't afford to drive our car too far away from this main road that we're now on, Bunny-chan," Sailor V called out to her. "If I do, we'll get even more lost than we are at the moment. And if that happens, we may never get back to the Hikawa Shrine for help before we're caught. But we're going to have to somehow take out that car behind us, before the yakuza in it can call up any more reinforcements of their own…!"

A faint crack came to their ears and then something struck the rear bumper of their car, whining off in a ricochet.

"_Minako-chan! They're shooting at us!"_ Usagi cried out over the howling of their engine, crouching down in her seat for protection.

_Damn, damn, damn!_ Minako cursed silently to herself, swerving the car back and forth across her lane to present a more difficult target for the gunman behind them to hit. _And I can't fire back at them, either, because Bunny-chan can't drive for me! If I could only find a way to-?_

Just then, she noticed that the multi-laned street that they were fleeing along was beginning to rise up into a gentle slope, and would soon turn in a gentle arc around the left flank of the small hill up ahead. And that gave her an idea…!

"Bunny-chan, grab the wheel!"

_"Naaani!"_ Usagi shrieked out with disbelief!

"Just for a minute! There's a big, wide bend to the left coming up ahead of us about a quarter of a mile away, see? If I can lean out of my window a bit, I think that I can take out that yakuza car with my crescent beam compact – I'll have a clear shot at it! But I can't do it and drive at the same time, so I need you to hold the wheel and steer for a few seconds."

"_But-? But-?!"_

"Then, after that, we can slow down again," she promised, already winding down her drivers side window with her gloved left hand, the sudden influx of cold wind blasting her long, golden hair backwards past the padded roll bar and across the fold-down back seat behind her. "And I'll slow down a bit as we take the bend, too, to make it easier for you. You can do it, Bunny-chan! All you have to do is hold the wheel steady and take our car around that bend for me?"

"Oh-okay, I'll do it," Usagi told her uncertainly. She gulped, then reached to her left and gripped the vibrating steering wheel with both of her trembling hands.

"_Ready, Bunny-chan?"_ Sailor V asked her, undoing her seat belt and then throwing a quick glance over her shoulder at the yakuza car as the Shelby Cobra began to sweep around the long, shallow curve on the multi-lane road.

"Yes, I am – _I think?"_

"Just hold the wheel at this angle and we'll make it just fine. Okay, I'm turning to shoot at them…_now!"_

As the sweating Usagi gripped the wheel, holding the huge old classic car on its steady course around the gentle bend, Sailor V suddenly twisted around to her left and leaned out of the window, looking to their rear. Ignoring a bullet that came so close to her that it passed through her hair, she aimed the Crescent moon compact in her right hand directly back at the closely pursuing car and yelled out, _"Crescent beam!"_

Instantly, a ray of brilliant golden light flashed across the intervening distance between her and her pursuers. The powerful energy beam struck the yakuza car directly in the front of its engine compartment, drilling completely through the radiator and engine block, blowing the hood up and over the car's windshield in an eruption of steam and oil! The badly damaged vehicle swerved wildly first to the left, and then into a rapid turn to its right, directly into the roadside kerb. The impact caused the yakuza car to flip into the air and then somersault three times down the sidewalk, off a concrete wall and back out onto the road again in a crashing cacophony of twisting metal and exploding glass. Finally the battered vehicle came to rest on its roof, sliding in a shower of white sparks at an angle back into the center of the lane, its three remaining wheels spinning forlornly in the cold night air!

"_Got it!"_ Sailor V whooped, pulling herself in through the window again and grabbing control of the steering wheel back off the very relieved Usagi. "And you did well, Bunny-chan. Thanks!"

"_N-no problem…!"_

"Okay, I can't see any more cars at the moment, so I think that we're in the clear," Sailor V declared happily, winding her window back up again. "Now to get you safely back to the others…"

"So where exactly are we, now?" the still pale-faced Usagi asked her pleased as punch friend, scratching her head as she stared off with confusion at the unfamiliar scenery surrounding them. "All of these roads look the same to me at night…"

"We're back on our original road – _I think?_ That big blue and red sign over there sure looks familiar… If we keep driving in this direction, we _should_ be heading back the way that we originally came from."

"That's good. I just want to get back to the Hikawa Shrine and just forget that any of this night ever happened. All of this excitement and adventure is too scary, and it's wearing me out…!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

Five minutes later, the Shelby Cobra GT 500 let out a coughing sound, and the car's so far smoothly running 428 Cobra Jet V-8 engine gave a slight jolt as it momentarily lost power.

"What's causing this loss of power?" Sailor V wondered out loud, staring at the gauges on the dashboard in front of her as the engine spluttered for a second time and then a third. "Did they somehow hit our engine? I hope not…?"

But one look at the now-empty showing fuel gauge told Minako all that she needed to know about their new problem.

"_Oh, darn!_ We're out of petrol, Bunny-chan…just when we had a clear run to safety on this open road…!"

"So what are we going to do with our car? We can't just leave it here on the side of the road; it's too easily spotted! They'll know that we were here straight away!"

"I've still got a bit of power and a lot of momentum left, so I'll steer the car into that lock up garage over there," Sailor V told her, thinking on the fly as she quickly turned off the road towards the row of industrial vehicle storage sheds that she had fortuitously spotted. Then Sailor V drove the spluttering monster car up the short driveway and into the closest storage shed with its steel roller door, a wide grin of satisfaction at their lucky break on her flawless face.

"See, Bunny-chan? This is a perfect hiding place for our car, and it's got a lockable door, as well! The yakuza will never find it in here. When we get out, take that little pistol and any ammunition that you can find for it with you as well. You need to have some extra protection and that little gun will do quite nicely in a pinch!"

Braking to a stop, Minako switched the engine off and applied the handbrake, then both girls jumped out of their vehicle, Minako being very careful to take the car keys with her. After quickly locking the car doors, Minako used the key to open the wide trunk of the vehicle to search for anything that might possibly be of help to them. Usagi ran to the roller door control and pushed the button to drop the heavy steel door down to seal off the garage, then she kept watch at the front window of the shed for any sign of the pursuing yakuza.

"Wow! Look what I found?" Sailor V exclaimed, turning and holding up a squat firearm of some sort. Looking closer, Usagi saw that it was a short, stubby, double-barrelled, sawn-off shotgun. The cut-down firearm also had a leather sling for ease of carrying. "And there's a box of 12 gauge shells for it in here, as well…!"

"_Ah_ – are we going to take that gun with us, as well?" Usagi enquired in a timid tone, her big blue eyes full of uncertainty. "I don't know how to handle firearms, and they're dangerous…!"

"This sawn off scattergun doesn't take much to operate, Bunny-chan," Sailor V instructed her friend, working the lever under the stock and snapping open the gun with a fluid movement. "See? You eject the used cartridges here, put in two fresh shells, and then snap the barrels back up again, like so! Then you draw back the two hammers here, aim the gun, squeeze these triggers here one at time, you fire one round and then fire the second. Once you've fired the weapon, the shotgun pellets spray out in a fan shape so you don't have to be too accurate with it at close range. Now, have you got all that, Bunny-chan?"

"_Um, ah,_ yes – yes, I think so?" Usagi told her. "It seems simple enough, I guess…? _Um? _Could you show me once more, please?"

"Okay. Remember, hammers back, aim the gun with its wooden stock pressed tightly against your shoulder, and fire each barrel by pressing these two triggers, one at a time. And it's very important that the stock _is_ hard against your shoulder, Bunny-chan! If it's not, the recoil of the shell being fired will nearly knock your shoulder right off your body! And that would be excruciatingly painful for you to be running around with a busted shoulder, got that?"

Usagi gulped nervously. "Yes, Minako-chan, I'll definitely remember that…!"

"Excellent, Bunny-chan! Then you reload again, breaking the gun open again with this lever like this… Snap the gun back together again and repeat the cycle. It's a piece of cake…"

_For you, maybe?_ Usagi thought. _You've had practise with this sort of thing – I haven't…!_

Sailor V passed the short but deadly close range weapon over to Usagi, who hung it over her neck by its leather sling so that the weapon hung down her right side, concealed from prying eyes under her warm jacket. The box of twelve-gauge buckshot shotgun shells was then opened and Sailor V stuffed Usagi's jacket pockets with all of the lethal ammunition that they could hold. Once she had finished, Usagi thought she knew just how the _'Terminator'_ must have felt, with a sawn-off shotgun under her arm and a small pocket pistol stuffed down her belt at the back of her pants!

"_I'll be back…!"_ Usagi growled in a gruff voice before she could stop herself.

"Huh? What was that you just said, Bunny-chan?" Sailor V asked her, looking back from the car trunk again.

"_Oh, nothing, nothing...!"_ Usagi stammered, turning her face away from her inquisitive friend. "I'm just trying to get into character, that's all…"

"Look, Bunny-chan, there's a car cover in here," Minako told her excitedly, ignoring Usagi's red-faced embarrassment. "Hurry and give me a hand to cover our lovely vehicle. We can leave it here and come back to collect it later, when it's safe."

"Okay, but is that even legal?" Usagi wanted to know as they threw the canvas cover over the huge car and then pulled it down to tyre level, leaving the big red vehicle almost totally hidden.

"No, but I don't care," Minako laughed at her. "If it belongs to one of those yakuza scum, then too bad for him. They owe me _big_ for what they did to us and this lovely big car is part payment for it."

"I…okay, fair enough," Usagi admitted. "What do you suggest that we now, Minako-chan? Do we try to make it back to the Hikawa Shrine on foot?"

"It'd be safer for both of us if we just stay here until tomorrow morning. But first, we lock this roller door from the outside with this big padlock that I found on the wall over there. There are two different keys, so I guess that the second one is for the front access door next to you, so we'll lock that one securely as well. That way, no one can get in here and find us or steal our hot car."

"I'm tired, Minako-chan," Usagi told her friend, yawning mightily after the two girls had finished locking themselves securely into the prefabricated steel building.

"Tell you what, Bunny-chan? You go and have a sleep in the back seat of our car, under the canvas cover, and I'll keep watch for you. It should be safe enough in here, but it'd be best if we didn't take any chances. And don't forget to unsling that shotgun and take the pistol out of the back of your pants as well! You don't want to roll over in your sleep and have an accident!"

"That's fine with me," Usagi replied, managing a faint smile despite her shattered nerves and her numbed mind from all that had happened to her and her courageous friend. "I haven't forgotten about my guns! But you're tired too, Minako-chan! Wake me in a couple of hours and I'll take my turn as well."

"Thank you, Bunny-chan," Sailor V yawned out. Now that their frenetic escape from their cruel captors had been successful and they had finally managed to reach a place of safety, she was only just beginning to realize just how worn out she was feeling now, as well. "I'll take you up on that."

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Dammit, the engine of their car has been switched off," 'Cream Man' snapped out with annoyance to the five other yakuza crammed into one of the pursuit cars with him. "That means that the beacon has had its electrical power cut off, which means no signal to track - that's the big disadvantage of hard-wiring tracking beacons into a cars power supply!"

"So what do we do?" 'Nampa' asked from the drivers seat next to him. "Did you have a strong enough signal before to let us know approximately how far away from us they are?"

"Yeah, I've narrowed it down to within a few city blocks, maybe a mile ahead of us right now. We're just going to have to cruise around them and hope that we get lucky. Hey, one of you guys in the back get on the radio and scare up some of the other cars to come and give us a hand to search this area for them."

"I'm on to it," Naoto-san confirmed from the back seat as he hefted his two-way radio and switched it on.

"I wonder why those two ditzy blondes suddenly turned the car around and started to come back towards us, one street over?" 'Nampa" wondered out loud, as his compatriot called for help from the other searching cars.

"Dunno? But maybe what they say about dumb blondes really _is_ true?" 'Cream Man' chuckled, drawing a laugh from all of the others present. "Still, their idiocy has made our job that much simpler…!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

It was just after midnight, and at the National Medical Clinic in Minami-Azabu Ward, a severely injured girl was just waking up from her sedated condition. Up in her third floor recovery room, Makoto Kino slowly came back to full consciousness, her awakening mind banishing the terrible dreams that had been haunting her during her comatose state.

"_Owww!"_ she gasped out weakly to herself, reaching back to try to touch the throbbing spot on the back, left hand side of her skull. "My head…! What happened to me…?"

Her fingers closed on cloth and she snatched her hand away in surprise as her memories came flooding back.

_I was in a room at the 'Happy Hour' bar, fighting a tattooed yakuza, and then his friends started to become involved…! They started pulling guns; I fired a 'sparking wide pressure' lightning ball at two of them, kicked one over the bar counter, and then-? I don't know…?"_

"I must have got hit from behind by someone, or something?" Makoto told herself grimly, out loud. _"Darn!_ I had just found the bastard who abused Bunny-chan, too!" Her hand returned back to her bandaged head and she touched it gingerly. "And I've been injured – not _too_ seriously, I hope?"

Lifting her blanket, Makoto quickly checked herself as well as she could in the subdued light to make sure that she wasn't carrying any other injuries. As she looked under the covers, she noticed without much surprise that her Sailor Jupiter costume had been removed and that she was now wearing a hospital gown and long pajamas.

Upon seeing this, Makoto didn't worry at all about where her outfit could be. She knew that all she had to do was change back into being ordinary Makoto Kino again, then summon her Henshin stick and transform back into Sailor Jupiter a second time. As she did so, her Sailor Jupiter outfit would automatically reappear back on her body, no matter where it may be stored at present.

All seemed to be fine, her head wound was the only injury that she was carrying. Once reassured of that very important fact, Makoto leant back carefully onto her soft, raised pillow again, her half-closed eyes roaming around her new surroundings with interest. A few dim lights burned in a regular pattern along the ceiling, so she had enough light to make out the details of the room that she was in easily enough, even though she could see through the big window on her left hand side that it was night time outside.

_Hello? So I'm in a hospital, somewhere? Maybe the police arrived and called for an ambulance? I'm sure that none of those yakuza would have done that for me...! Or maybe Minako-chan arrived and pulled me out of there…?_

She felt at the back of her head again, then flinched at the stab of pain that shot through the left side of her already aching brain.

"_Ow! That hurt!"_

Makoto's vision suddenly became blurry and the entire room seemed to spin around her. The sudden pain was almost enough to make her physically sick…! Then, mercifully, she passed out once more into unconsciousness.

Just outside the window, the black shape with shining yellow eyes and faintly gleaming teeth that was clinging to the vertical concrete wall of the building let out a silent snarl of satisfaction at what he had just seen. Then the tall, lanky shape dropped back down from the closed window, turned away and vanished like fading mist into the all-cloaking darkness below.


	9. Chapter 9

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER NINE**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Back in their hiding place in the car storage shed, Sailor V was at that very moment fiddling with the controls on her Crescent Moon compact, trying to increase both the power and the reception of her communicator in an effort to boost its range so that she could finally manage to get in touch with Artemis.

Increasing the power level to the communication chip on the nearly fully moonlight-charged compact wasn't too difficult for someone with her skills, but all that she could pick up after nearly half an hour of adjustments was even more hissing and crackling sounds. But then it happened-!

As she listened to the faint words suddenly coming through the miniaturized speaker and realized what the unknown speaker was saying, Sailor V almost dropped the compact with shocked surprise, and her half hidden face behind her red mask turned nearly as white as snow. Leaping to her feet in a single, lithe movement, she turned and quickly ran off in the direction of their covered car.

"Bunny-chan? _Bunny-chan!"_

"Huh? What is it, Minako-chan?" Usagi inquired sleepily of her urgent sounding companion. Then her drowsy blue eyes snapped wide open as she remembered exactly where she was at that moment. Sitting bolt upright on the rear seat, she inquired nervously, "Are we both in danger, Sailor V? Are there yakuza outside?"

"No, nothing as drastic as that, Bunny-chan. But I managed to somehow pick up a stray radio transmission on my Crescent Moon compact. Someone has just put in a call to the 'Happy Hour' bar, telling the yakuza _Shateigashira_ that we are headed for the Hikawa Shrine!"

"_But – but how could anyone possibly know that?"_ Usagi exclaimed with disbelief, staring into Sailor V's very worried eyes. "Only we should have that information – shouldn't we?"

"Yes, so there's obviously a third party involved here?" Sailor V deduced, thinking hard. "On the night when you were – _hurt_ – Luna and Artemis found the smell of a youma in the alley where you were laying unconscious, remember? I'm now beginning to wonder if it's possible that the youma that they sensed has been secretly watching us, and also feeding information on our movements to the yakuza?"

At her grim and frightening words, Usagi's own face paled. "Do you think that there's a chance that what you said just then might be true, Sailor V?" she asked, a nervous tremor in her voice.

"Yes, maybe…? But it doesn't really matter how they found out our destination; all that _does_ matter now is that we need to somehow warn our friends to expect a visit from the yakuza, tonight. So I'm going to attempt to do that right now."

"_How?"_ Usagi inquired, shuddering at the horrible thought of having an invisible monster surreptitiously watching their every move from the shadows.

"I'm going to go outside and see if I can make it to a phone. So please stay here where you'll be safe, Bunny-chan. I can put in a warning call to Artemis and Luna, and also let them know where we are. They must be worried half to death about me! And I wonder if they even know that you are missing yet?"

Still worried about the possibility of a hidden youma lurking nearby, Usagi instinctively moved closer to her still talking friend, and her left foot accidentally banged against the stock of the shotgun. Bending down, she picked it up again and passed the weapon out through the open window to Sailor V. After collecting her pistol as well, Usagi opened the door and ducked out under the car cover that Sailor V was holding up for her. After closing and relocking the door behind her, Usagi tucked the pistol back into her right pocket, turned back to her friend, retrieved the shotgun, and said simply, "Let's go."

"You're coming with me, Bunny-chan? But it's far safer for you here in this garage! The yakuza may find you again if you're out on the street with me!"

"No, I'm far safer with you," Usagi disputed, determined to be courageous for once. "With a youma on the loose and me without my locket, I'd be helpless against it if it knows that I'm here and you are gone. I don't know if this shotgun will be effective against it if it does find me, but I know for a fact that your Crescent beam _will_ be! So we'd best stick together, Minako-chan…!"

Sailor V sighed, recognizing the logic in Bunny-chan's words. And the thought of a youma finding Bunny-chan alone and unprotected was far more than she could bear…!

"Okay, we'll go together. Once we find a phone and warn the others, we'll find out exactly where we are and then keep going in the direction of the Hikawa Shrine. Now that we're out in the open, we'd best get out of this area fast, before we're spotted. And if they do manage to find us again, at least this way they won't get our car!"

"Good idea," Usagi agreed, looping the leather sling of the sawn-off shotgun over her head before concealing the powerful short range weapon under her jacket once more. "All right, I'm ready. Hey, don't forget to lock the door of this garage when we leave, Minako-chan?"

"As if I'd forget to do that?" Sailor V laughed. "All right, after you, _Usagi Yojimbo!"_

"_Rabbit bodyguard? _Oh, yeah, why not?"

-:-:-:-:-:-

After carefully locking the solid, reinforced door behind them, Sailor V and Usagi set out on their journey along the darkened, potentially danger filled streets on their search for a public telephone.

"If we want to find a phone at this hour of the night in this area, I think that we'd best try to find a gas station, Minako-chan," Usagi suggested to her wary friend as they walked cautiously down the sidewalk towards the distant neon lights of a small shopping center.

"Good thinking, Bunny-chan. But if we see any cars coming our way, unless the car is clearly marked as a police vehicle or is a bus, we hit the dirt behind the nearest cover, okay?"

"No argument here! But we have to find a phone…!"

"We will. It's just a matter of time…"

The two girls made it to the next intersection, having had to only dodge two vehicles during their ten-minute walk. Turning left in the direction that led to the well-lit up shopping center – and also the Hikawa Shrine, if Sailor V's hunch was correct – the two wary girls began to develop a bit more confidence that they would actually make it there without being spotted. There were no cars in sight at all along this stretch of roadway, and their brightly shining headlights would give ample warning for the pair of sailor scouts to take cover if one were to approach from either direction.

Usagi and Sailor V were just passing the first group of ill-lit apartment blocks at the beginning of the built up area, when a car suddenly switched on its headlights and drove out of a side road directly in front of them! Before they could move, they were illuminated by the twin beams of the vehicle's headlights, caught out in the open like moths in front of a candle!

As the light beams fell upon them both, a loud chorus of shouting came from the open windows of the revving car. Instantly the driver stamped down on the accelerator and the vehicle leapt forward towards the two sailor scouts, accelerating all of the time!

"_Sailor V,"_ Usagi yelled out, raising her right arm to shield her eyes from the dazzling lights. "Let's get out of here!"

"_Oh, crap, we've been discovered!"_ Reacting instinctively, Sailor V crouched down and levelled her Crescent compact at the rapidly approaching car. "Run, Bunny-chan! I'll cover you for as long as I can! _Crescent beam!"_

Her quick shot scored, striking the left front of the vehicle, blowing off the front wheel on that side. The car spun wildly along the asphalt, nearly flipping over onto its roof, the bare axle sending a tall shower of sparks flying over its roof as it shuddered to a halt in the center of the road. All four doors opened and a corresponding number of yakuza poured out onto the streetlamp lit road, guns at the ready. With a rapid flickering of red flashes and thunderous detonations, they then opened fire!

Sailor V dived and rolled, bullets slamming into the hard road surface only inches from where she had been crouching only a second before!

_That was too close!_ She told herself, dashing in a rapidly weaving run towards the nearest apartment block, her heart hammering with fear as she realized that she probably wasn't going to make it. _The next volley will get me; I'm too exposed out here in those headlights…!_

Then, to her total and utter surprise, she heard a loud booming sound, followed by a second blast in quick succession. With the loud smashing sound of shattering glass bulbs, both headlights instantly winked out into darkness, giving the beleaguered Sailor V valuable time to reach the cover of the nearest building! She dove safely into the shadows, bullets ricocheting wildly around her, and then looked up in alarm as an armed figure unexpectedly stepped up to her.

"_Bunny-chan…!"_

Usagi stood there, calmly breaking open the shotgun and chambering in two fresh shells from the supply in her pockets. Snapping the gun closed again, she discarded the two, used shotgun cartridges in her hand and then looked down a little shakily at her prone, open-mouthed friend.

"You were right, Sailor V. This gun _does_ have quite a kick…! _Ouch!"_

"Bunny-chan… I think that you just saved me back there…! Thank you!"

"We'd best get moving, Minako-chan," Usagi told her, peering carefully around the corner of the building back out onto the street. "My shots made them take cover, but I can see at least two other cars rapidly coming our way." Raising her sawn-off shotgun on its carrying strap up to her shoulder again, Usagi then touched off another aimed shot, and then joined her dumbfounded friend in retreating speedily through the shadows towards the next building.

"That was pretty good shooting, Bunny-chan," the gleeful Sailor V congratulated her as they weaved their way further into the maze of three and four storied buildings, Usagi replacing her spent round like a professional as they beat their hasty retreat through the alternating patchwork of gloom and pools of yellow light. "I never expected you to be able to handle a gun like that, especially since you have never, ever used one before, at all!"

Usagi grinned nervously at her amazed friend, the bright light from a door lamp momentarily highlighting their golden-haired silhouettes as they ran past it. "I had a good teacher," she admitted. "Almost as good at Artemis…!"

_"Bunny-chan…"_

_And you saved me, too, Minako-chan,_ Usagi thought to herself, full of admiration for her beautiful companion_. And, one day, I promise that I'll reward you properly for your loyalty to me, you'll see…?_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_So, what's the situation here?" _'Nampa' Konno yelled out of his wound down window to the four men in sight as the car he was driving screeched to a juddering stop next to the badly damaged vehicle in the center of the road.

"It's Usagi and Sailor V!" one of the yakuza hollered back to him, keeping a wary eye on the dark space next to the nearest apartment block as he talked. "They took out our car, and then ran down between those two buildings over there!"

"_Sailor V?"_ 'Cream Man' yelled out of the front passenger window in alarmed surprise at the dim figure. _"Are you sure?_ And where's Minako? Wasn't she with Usagi?"

"No sign of Minako, but that was Sailor V, all right! She's the one who took out our car. She was out in the open, and we would have got her, too, but someone else also fired a damn shotgun at us and blew out both of our headlights before we could nail her!"

"_Hot damn…!"_

"Okay, you lot seal off this walkway and make your way along it, slowly and carefully," 'Nampa' Konno cut in, before any more could be said. "Tsuneo-san, take the next carload of our boys that arrive here up after them to reinforce them." Turning his head, he spoke rapidly to the man holding the radio in the back seat of his car. "Naoto-san, call up the other cars and get them to circle around and cut them off at the next street over. Get the men spread well out, and we should catch both Usagi and Sailor V in our net. And do it quickly!"

"You got it, 'Nampa'-san!"

"Good thinking, 'Nampa'," 'Cream Man' congratulated his partner as the tall yakuza started the car moving once again. "We should be able to take down Sailor V and get Usagi back, right now, anyway! Hey, I wonder where Minako is? Maybe she's still with Fujimori-sama's precious car, holed up somewhere else?"

"Dunno? But we'd best make the most of this chance to grab Usagi, if we can get her away from Sailor V. We can worry about Minako and the car, later…!"

"You got it, pal. Just get me and the others here into a good interception position for those two, and it'll be as good as over."

-:-:-:-:-:-

Five minutes later, the cautious Sailor V and Usagi were still managing to keep ahead of their pursuers, but only just. Sailor V had fired her compact only once more - that blast had taken out two of the closest of their chasers and given the others a healthy respect for her accuracy.

"Up here, Bunny-chan," Sailor V urged her pigtailed friend, running up a flight of fire escape steps towards the rooftop of the building they had just reached. "Get up onto the roof and we can take cover up there and defend the stairway. That way, the yakuza will have to come at us only one or two at a time, which will be suicidal for them to attempt! Hopefully, the police will get here soon, and then the yakuza will have to either have to beat a hasty retreat or get arrested on the spot!"

"Good idea, Sailor V!" Usagi called up to her rapidly moving friend as she started up the stairway herself. Reaching the first landing, she stopped for a second to catch her breath and try to still her racing heartbeat from her strenuous exertions.

"_Hurry up, Bunny-chan,"_ Sailor V called down to her, having already reached the rooftop. _"I can see them coming right now!"_

"Don't worry; I'm right behind you – _look out! _There's a yakuza in the building window just below you, Sailor V," Usagi yelled out in alarm, raising up the butt of the shotgun to her shivering right shoulder and squinting along its stubby barrels. "I've got him! Take both barrels of _this,_ you kidnapping piece of trash! _I punish you in the name of the Moon!"_

"_Not both barrels at once, Bunny–chan!" _Sailor V cried desperately down to her inexperienced friend from the rooftop. _"The recoil might-?"_

Too late!

The wicked kickback from the sawn-off shotgun firing both shells simultaneously, bowled Usagi completely off her feet and back over the rail behind her. With a loud wail of panic, she plummeted twenty feet straight down into an open dumpster beside the steel stairs!

"_Bunny-chaaan!"_ Minako screamed, jerking herself upright in shock at her dear friend's involuntary plunge back down into their enemies' cruel hands.

_Am I dead? Is this heaven…?"_ Usagi thought to herself, her head spinning as she stared dazed and uncomprehendingly upward at the fire escape from which she had fallen. Then, as four shadowy heads appeared above the rim of the dumpster, looking down at her sprawled out body, she changed her mind about where she was in a hurry!

_If this really is heaven, then those are the ugliest looking angels that I've ever seen…?!_

Then rough hands were dragging the stunned Usagi up out of the rubbish-bag stacked dumpster, ripping away her empty shotgun and her ammunition-filled jacket, then pinning her arms behind her back and handcuffing them securely once again. Up on the rooftop, Sailor V just stood there in shocked disbelief; until a lethal spray of buckshot from two yakuza shotguns caused her to hurriedly jump safely back out of sight again. Then the stairs were full of ascending, armed yakuza, heading for the rooftop to capture or kill the shaken and upset sailor scout. As she heard them approaching her concealed position, Sailor V finally realized that she had to flee, and do it now, or else it was all over!

_This isn't over yet, _Minako thought wildly to herself as she began to run. _I swear it! I swear that I'll rescue you Bunny-chan, even if it kills me to do it!_

"_Run, Minako-chan!" _Usagi screamed out to her hidden friend, shaking the cobwebs from her fall out of her head with an effort. _"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine! Save yourself!"_

'Cream Man' paused halfway up the steps as he heard Usagi's desperate words, and a look of disbelief crossed his face as he realized what they meant.

_Minako-chan?_ _So Minako has secretly been Sailor V all along?_ He thought to himself with surprise as the panicky looking Usagi was led away to one of the waiting cars that would take her on her trip to the Fashion-Health Club in Kabukicho. But now that 'Cream Man' began to really think about the possibility, he realized that the physical resemblance between Minako and Sailor V had been obvious from the start, and he began to mentally kick himself for not realizing the possibility of it sooner. And that red ribbon in her hair should have been a dead giveaway. Furthermore, he had known that Sailor V was now based in Tokyo, even if she hadn't been seen for months now. No wonder the feel of Minako's soft young body against his bare skin had brought back fond memories…?!

Despite the fact that Minako had managed to temporarily escape from them once more, the yakuza enforcer still had a great deal of satisfaction with the fact that he had managed to get her, naked and helpless, in bed with him once again – several times on this occasion! And just to add a little icing on the cake, it had been with one of her friends, too…

"_Hold on!"_ he exclaimed to himself, slapping his forehead with a big hand as he put two-and-two together. "That means that Minako's friend, Usagi, could be…? There's certainly a good resemblance there, too, so could it be possible? Could it _really_ be true that my new Sweetie is secretly – _Sailor Moon? Oh, yeah!"_

'Cream Man' Oda grinned with delight and rubbed his rough hands together with anticipation. He was now sure of his new theory. Sure, Minako had escaped his clutches – for the time being, anyway – but Usagi had not. And the very real prospect of her actually being Sailor Moon would definitely make his first bed session with her at the Fashion-Health Club where she was going to be imprisoned all that much more enjoyable.

_It was not every day that you get to bed two super hero babes! Life is good…!_


	10. Chapter 10

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER TEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

At that exact same time, at the Hikawa Shrine, Artemis had just finished gathering possibly vital information on his small computer, which had a wireless connection to the Internet. Earlier on that night, he had been working on Rei's wristwatch communicator, doing much the same thing as Sailor V had been doing to her Crescent compact, trying to boost its power and range. Once he had done all that he could to improve the device, the white cat had rematerialized his miniature computer and got to work tracking down all of the recent police database reports of yakuza activity that he could hack into.

Artemis had now finished his laborious task, and what he had found out had disturbed him greatly. He had some grave news to deliver, so he had no hesitation at all in waking Luna, whom was curled up asleep on a nearby couch.

"I know that it's just after midnight, Luna, so I sorry to wake you, but I've just finished my further research on whom we're up against – and its not good news for our missing sailor scouts," Artemis told her unhappily.

"Well, what are you waiting for – _a drum roll?"_ Luna heckled him, stifling a loud yawn. "Spit it out."

"Apart from drug shipments, the local Black Cap Yakuza branch also has another very profitable sideline for themselves," Artemis continued soberly, too upset even to respond to Luna's jibe. He then paused and took a deep breath, steeling himself for her no-doubt horrified reaction to his bad news. "They own and run chains of so-called 'Fashion-Health' Clubs all over the East Coast. The yakuza have been suspected of kidnapping young girls to work in secret, hidden establishments that are run in conjunction with the official clubs, but there has never been enough proof for the Police to investigate. And I think…I think that's just what has happened to Minako, and probably Makoto and Ami, too. As to why…well, I don't need to remind you of just how physically attractive all of the sailor scouts are?"

"_Oh, those poor girls,"_ Luna whispered, looking as shocked as he felt. "But if they are prisoners of the yakuza, then why haven't the three girls transformed into their sailor scout forms and freed themselves yet? It just doesn't make sense! Unless…?"

"Unless they are either dead, tied up and are unable to…or if they haven't been captured by the yakuza at all, but by youma – or even something worse?" Artemis finished off for her. "Those are our three options. Now which one of the three is the most likely?"

"We _did_ find that youma scent on Friday night, Artemis," Luna reminded him. "But Makoto and Minako went missing near the 'Happy Hour' bar, and that is definitely a yakuza establishment."

"The most likely scenario is still that Makoto and Minako are being held by the yakuza, but I'm now thinking that Ami could quite possibly have been snatched by the youma, after all," Artemis said, the worried expression on his face deepening as he spoke. "I wish that Rei had stuck with her, but who would have guessed that Ami would get snatched in broad daylight on her way to the library, of all places?"

"That scenario makes sense, all right," Luna sighed unhappily. "But it still doesn't explain what happened to our child, Diana. Artemis, I'm really worried about her now. The Sailor Scouts can defend themselves if given the chance, but Diana is only a kitten!"

"I'm worried too, Luna. But, since we haven't a clue as to what happened to her yet, we have to go with what we can do, right now. Who knows what could have happened – or be happening to our three missing girls, even as we speak? So if we don't hurry up and find them and rescue them, Makoto, Minako and possibly Ami are all going to be condemned to a life of sexual slavery. And even if we do manage to rescue all of them, we all may have to face the uncomfortable fact that they may never be the same as they were before."

Before any of the grim looking cats could say anything more, there came a most welcome interruption!

"_Artemis, Luna, are you there?"_ Minako cried out into her Crescent Moon compact, her anxious voice coming through to them loud and clear through Rei's own device on the table before them._ "Is this thing even working…? Come in, please!"_

"_That's Minako," _Artemis shouted out, jumping back across the tabletop in a lithe bound, to land next to the Rei's wristwatch. "Her communicator is working again and she's still alive! Minako, where are you? What's happening?"

"_Artemis! Thank god!_ I don't have much time to talk, I'm running for my life just now," Sailor V gasped out to them as she bounded onto the next rooftop in her flight path. "I've escaped from one of the upstairs rooms of the 'Happy' Hour bar. I've been held prisoner there since Friday night. And Artemis, they had Usagi-chan there as well!"

"_What? _We thought that she was safe at home, in bed!_ Is she all right?"_

"Yes, she's fine. We escaped together in a car from the parking lot out back of the building, but we ran out of gas and had to stash the car. Then the yakuza caught up with us. Gunfire cut me off from her and she got caught again. I'm so sorry, everyone, but I couldn't get her back…!"

"_Oh, no…!"_ Luna cried out. "We should never have left Usagi at home all alone and unprotected! But at least we know where she is now. Why didn't you call us for help sooner, we might have been able to get there and rescue you both before the yakuza caught her?"

"My communicator has only just started working right now. Maybe I was out of range with it before, I dunno?"

"It's alright, it's not your fault," Artemis cut in. "Minako, did you see any sign of Makoto or Ami?"

"_Ami-chan's missing too?!"_

A bullet ricocheted off the chimney next to her, so Sailor V dove off the exposed rooftop onto a stairwell platform, rolled once, and then leapt off the fire escape into the shadow-clad alley below. Regaining her feet, she melted into the cover of a handy doorway.

"Sorry, I'm being chased by at least a dozen yakuza right now. But I think that I've lost them for the moment, anyway?"

"Yes, Ami vanished yesterday, just after we dropped Usagi back off at her house," Luna elaborated in a very worried tone. "Makoto disappeared the night before, just before you did. We've been worried sick about all three of you!"

"I haven't seen any sign of Ami-chan at all, but - but I _did _hear something that might have been about Makoto-chan. Apparently - and I hope that I'm wrong – a girl with a ponytail got shot in the bar downstairs, just before I arrived there and they captured me. I didn't get to see who it was, but…but I think it _was_ her…Mako-chan, I mean…?!"

"_Oh, no!"_ Luna cried out in distress. "Artemis, did you hear that?"

"Did you hear whether she survived, Minako?" Artemis demanded, his voice choked up with shock. "The girl who was shot?"

"No, just that they took her away afterwards, but I don't know where. Gee, I really hope that she's all right, guys?!"

"_So do we,"_ Luna whispered. "Artemis, we've got to find her, she could be seriously hurt!"

"We will, Luna. That's a priority! Minako, can you see any sign yet of the yakuza after you?"

"No, but I can hear them running down the street just off of the alley that I'm in. Cars, too, so I may have to move on in a minute or two?"

"Stay out of sight, and get back to us as soon as you can, safely," her cat emphasized to her. "We don't need you taking any chances just now, okay?"

"Okay, guys, I'll be extra careful. But, while I've got the chance, there are two other things that I think you ought to know. The yakuza were just about to move Usagi-chan and me out of the bar when we escaped – to where I don't know – but I suspect that it might be a Fashion-Health Massage club somewhere in Kabukicho. So if you go to the 'Happy Hour' to rescue her, she won't be there. Secondly, I found out the name of the man who…hurt…Usagi-chan in the alley. His name is Iwao _'Cream Man'_ Oda, a yakuza hit man. Remember him, Artemis? I tried to do the world a favor and get a bead on him with my 'Crescent beam' attack when they grabbed Bunny-chan again, but the slippery bastard was far too close to her for me to risk the shot…!"

"Iwao _'Cream Man'_ Oda?" Artemis repeated to himself, and then his memory clicked. _"Him!_ Minako, wasn't he the one who-?"

"_Yes. _And he did the same thing to me _again_ this time, too, when I was tied up and helpless, the drunken scumbag…! But because I wasn't in my Sailor V outfit this time, he didn't recognise me."

"_Kami-Sama!_ Are you all right, Minako? I mean-!"

"No. _No, I'm not…!_ But I don't want to talk about it at this moment, so just listen, okay? I've got to get out of here, right now! A couple of cars have just pulled into both ends of this alley and they're sweeping it with searchlights. They're between me and the Hikawa Shrine, so I'm going to head for the docks, I might be able to shake them there, circle around and make it to the shrine from another direction."

"Okay, Sailor Venus, we'll be keeping a watch out for you. Do you want us to send Sailor Mars out to you for backup?"

"No, she'd never get to find me in time, and I should be able to shake them easily enough on my own, anyway. Oh, yeah, one more thing. I lost my Sailor Venus Henshin stick when the yakuza captured me. I'm actually Sailor V at the moment."

"_Sailor V?"_

"Yeah. Just like old times, eh, Artemis?"

"Yes, but with one big difference, Minako. This time we're not alone…"

"I know. I'll see you and Luna again, soon, okay?'

"Okay, Minako-chan. Take care…!" Artemis told her tenderly.

"I will, I promise. _See ya!"_

Signing off, the beautiful crime fighter then ducked through the unlocked doorway into the corridor beyond and vanished into the shadows again. As she moved swiftly through the building, she thought back to what she had just told her feline partner and friend, and scowled grimly to herself at the memories it had brought back.

_With 'Cream Man' Oda there, it was just a little too much like old times for her liking…!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"'_Cream Man'?"_ Luna asked Artemis with puzzlement on her face, once Sailor V had gone off the air. "Who's he supposed to be, then, a bad milkman?"

"Iwao _'Cream Man'_ Oda used to be a hit man back in England a few years ago. He and Minako have a…_history."_

"'Iwao'…? That means 'Stone Man'…? But why the nickname, _'Cream Man'?"_

"That's because…well, let's say that he is the Casanova of the underworld, and his virility is…_astonishing_," Artemis informed her, blushing as he made his explanation. "Apparently, he can keep going for hours and hours, time after time with barely a rest with a young girl, and he always delivers-!"

"_Alright, alright, I've heard enough,"_ Luna bewailed, a grimace of disgust on her face and her paws over her ears. _"I think I get the message…!"_

"Yeah, but at last we know just who we're dealing with now, Luna," Artemis stated with satisfaction. "We now know for sure that it's definitely the Black Cap Yakuza who are responsible for most of our troubles, and we have a prime target to go after in their organization – 'Cream Man' Oda."

"I've just had a thought, Artemis," Luna said. "Why is it that Sailor V was able to contact us despite that jamming signal, but none of the other two missing sailor scouts were able to?"

"I think it's because she's using her Sailor V Crescent compact, not her Sailor Venus wristwatch communicator?" he theorized. "Sailor V's compact is an older, hand-held model, not the updated wristwatch version like the sailor scouts use now. And it uses a different scrambled frequency, one that for some reason isn't able to be jammed by whoever it is that's doing it to the newer ones."

"I see…?"

"All right, enough talk. It's time for some long-overdue action," Artemis declared. "We'd best wake Rei and Yuichiro up and fill them in on what Sailor V just told us."

"I'll go and get them now," Luna said, jumping back down off the table.

After waking up Yuichiro, Luna padded into Rei's bedroom and then she leapt up onto the sleeping girl's bed. "Rei. _Rei! Wake up!"_

Rei Hino stirred under her blankets and woke up, her eyes wide in the dim light as she stared at her visitor.

"_Huh?_ Luna? What's going on…?"

"I have some urgent news for you and Yuichiro. He's waiting outside. Can he come into your room, so that I can tell you both at the same time just what Artemis has found out?"

"Ah? Yeah, sure…!"

"Rei, Yuichiro, we've just found out what happened to Makoto and Minako," Luna informed her, sitting down on the blankets at her side. "But there's no news at all about Ami, or Diana, either, I'm sorry to say. Minako has just contacted us. She was being held at the 'Happy Hour' bar after all. And Rei, Yuichiro – they had kidnapped Usagi and she was taken there as well!"

"_Nani?!"_ Rei Hino cried out with mortification, her violet eyes widening in fearful concern for her helpless best friend. "But how did they manage to find her? She was hidden away safely at her home!"

"I don't know, but they did. Anyway, our two girls escaped from the bar, but the yakuza managed to catch up to them again. Minako managed to change into Sailor V and get away, but she was unable to save Usagi. She was captured again and taken somewhere else. Minako thinks somewhere in Kabukicho District – probably to a yakuza-run Fashion-Health Club."

"Minako-chan transformed into _Sailor V?_ Why not into Sailor Venus?"

"She lost her Henshin stick when she was captured, that's why," Luna told her gloomily. "We're going to have to try to find it, when we get the time."

"We'd better! She needs it – _we need it!"_

"Anyway, Luna cat, what do you and Artemis cat-dude want us to do?" Yuichiro interrupted, getting to the point. "It's something important, right?"

"Yes, you're correct. Yuichiro, would you mind going outside and keeping a good watch out for Sailor V and any sign of any pursuing yakuza when she does show up?" Luna asked him. "Rei, we need you to transform into Sailor Mars and get ready to help Sailor V at a moments notice!"

"No worries, Luna," Yuichiro grinned. "I'm on my way right now."

"Hold on, Yuichiro," Luna said, halting the tall, shaggy haired young man in his tracks. "Do you have a weapon of some sort to take with you? The yakuza are sure to be armed to the teeth and you might need something to defend yourself with if they do show up here! Have you or grandpa got any weapons here, apart from the hand to hand ones and bows and arrows?"

"Yeah…? _Um?_ - _Yeah…!"_ Yuichiro's face lit up as he remembered, and an enthusiastic grin appeared on his face. "Grandpa showed me his war mementoes a while back, and he gave me a key to the storage room with them in, too. He said that one day I might have to defend the Hikawa Shrine with them if he wasn't here to do it himself… _Ah_, give me a couple of minutes and I'll show you!" Turning, he ran from the room.

"I'd best transform right now," Rei stated grimly, jumping out of bed, fingernails glowing and raising up her Henshin stick. _"Mars Star Power, Make Up!!"_

Instantly the symbol in her raised Henshin stick began to spin and orange tendrils of flame erupted out from it, to surround the beautiful girl with the long, lustrous black hair with rotating rings of fire! As she spun inside her fiery cocoon, Rei's yellow silk pyjamas morphed into her white and red sailor suit, white elbow length gloves appeared on her arms and red high-heeled shoes materialized onto her feet. A sparking gold tiara winked into existence on her forehead, and then, with a flash like a mini solar flare, Sailor Mars struck up her pose!

"_Bravo,"_ Luna said, impressed as always by Rei's power.

"Thank you, Luna," Sailor Mars told her. "But I think that I've got an idea about how we can find out a little bit more than we already know about what happened to Ami-chan and Mako-chan, and also how we can find Bunny-chan and Diana, as well. I'm going to attempt to do a fire reading of the shrine's sacred flame…!"

"Good idea, Rei," Luna praised her young charge. "We've got nothing to lose and everything to gain by you doing that. Are you going to attempt it right now?"

"Yes, but I have to prepare myself, first. That'll take a quarter of an hour, or so. I'd best go now and get on with it."

"Do you need my help with anything?" Luna asked.

"No, this is something that I have to do alone. The less distractions for me when I'm in my trance, the better."

However, before Sailor Mars could leave the room to commence her task, Yuichiro came back in. At his appearance, both Luna and Sailor Mars burst out into laughter when they saw what he was wearing.

A battered, vintage World War Two G.I. helmet half covered his unkempt-haired head; most of the remainder of his face was concealed behind large, thick, safety goggles. An old flack jacket covered his big chest right down to his waist, and he had on a long pair of green army boots, as well.

"_Oh, dear,"_ Luna chuckled, wiping at her eyes with her right paw. "Well, this young man always _has_ been at the pinnacle of fashion here in Juuban…?"

"Yuichiro, what's with that get-up?" Rei gasped out to him, after she managed to stop laughing again at Luna's crack at her boyfriend. Keeping a straight face with an effort, she added, "Just who are you trying to be – _G.I. Joker-?"_

Yuichiro crimsoned as Sailor Mars and Luna fell all over the place again, tears of mirth streaming from their eyes.

"_All right, all right,"_ he muttered out to them, walking back to the door. "I know that I'm not exactly a fashion plate in this old gear, but I'm gonna need it for protection when I cut loose with this old thing out here…!"

"_What_ old thing out there?" Luna sniffed, finally managing to talk coherently again.

"_This old thing,"_ Yuichiro emphasized, lifting the object in question into the room with a flourish and waving it at them.

"_What the heck…? That's a rocket launcher!"_ Rei exclaimed, losing her mirth in record time, her hilarity replaced with incredulity. "I didn't know that grandpa had one of _those_ stashed away here?"

"Actually, that is a Bazooka, Rei," Luna corrected her, no less amazed at what she was seeing. "It may date back to World War Two, but it can still be a mighty effective weapon – if it has some ammunition to go with it, of course?"

"No worries, Luna," Yuichiro grinned, as pleased as punch with the effect his surprise had had on his two friends. "Grandpa has at least thirty rounds in ammunition boxes in the storage room, as well. That old dude has some major-league firepower at his disposal!"

"But do you actually know how to use that thing, Yuichiro-kun?" Sailor Mars queried him, worry in her voice. She knew that if you made a silly mistake with a bazooka, it was generally your last one…!

"Yep. Grandpa Hino made me practise loading it with dummy rounds, and I even fired it a couple of times using rounds that had their warhead removed."

"Well, that bazooka could certainly come in useful, all right," Luna admitted with a smile from her seat on Rei's bed. "Chalk up one more ace up our sleeve! Good work, Yuichiro."

"Thanks, lady cat. I'd best go and stand watch, now."

"And I'm off to the room with the sacred flame," Rei said. "I'll let you all know straight away if I find anything out, and we can make further plans from there."

"Good luck, Sailor Mars," Luna said. "We could do with some, right about now, too…!"


	11. Chapter 11

**This Chapter also has a 'M' version under 'Sailor Moon: D - The 'M' Version Chapters' .**

**WARNING: The 'M' version contains more adult content and it is suitable for Mature Readers only!**

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER ELEVEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Meanwhile, at the Fashion-Health Massage Club on Hanamichi-dori Avenue in Kabukicho District, things were happening fast. One of the establishment manager's favored customers – whom also happened to be a personal friend of his – had come in after a night out on the town, looking for a bit of action. And since his important customer was also single, the manager had decided to give his friend a real treat…

"She's just down this way," the manager told his friend as they and a guard walked down a small, concealed corridor in a restricted part of the building. "In this room, here." He flipped open the sliding one way mirror cover on the sturdy door and stepped back to let his prospective client have a look at the young, blonde girl in the soundproof room beyond.

"Well? What do you think?"

"Wow! She's not bad at all, is she…? When did _she_ arrive here?"

"Only an hour or so ago. And you can be her very first customer, if you've a mind to be?"

"Yeah? Sounds good! So what's her name?"

"Dunno. Maybe she'll tell you, she didn't say a word to me when she got brought here." He turned to the guard. "Hey, Kawasaki-san, did she mention her name to you at all?"

"I saw her when she arrived," the guard answered. "And she didn't even give me a squeak. But, _boy,_ is she hot…!"

"Maybe, if you've got the yen, she'll want to have a test ride on you as well, Kawasaki?" the manager quipped, unable to keep a straight face at his own pun. "Take her out for a spin?"

"_Oh, Hardee-har!" _the other gangster growled back to his smug employer. "You know damned well that I'd never be able to afford your fee for her. _It's forty thousand yen for every half hour._ Only the rich clients who come here can afford anything like that."

"_Rich clients like you,"_ the manager emphasized to the third man, who was still peering through the one-way mirror in the doorway with intense interest. "So what do you say? Remember, she is totally new, she only arrived an hour ago."

The prospective customer broke into a grin. "Oh, why not? She's not the worst girl I would have ever had in here, not by a long shot." He stared at the slender waisted, incredibly long-legged young blonde girl with the downcast eyes for a moment more, let out a wolf-whistle of admiration, then added, "And for once, you won't need to put her services on my monthly tab. In fact, after I've had my pleasure with her, I suspect that I'll be in such a good mood that I'll be paying you off my full tab right then and there!"

Grinning, the owner unlocked the soundproof door of the small room and swung it wide open for his customer. _"Enjoy!"_

As she saw the stranger enter, Usagi's head jerked up and her expressive, long-lashed blue eyes widened in sudden fear. She fell backwards against the far wall, slid to the floor, then scurried backwards on her rump to the furtherest corner of the small room, to cower there, hugging herself into a ball, legs splayed in terror.

"Please, Sir, please don't hurt me?" Usagi begged, tears beginning to stream from those huge, pleading, blue eyes. _"I'm scared! Oh, someone please help me!"_

"For goodness sake, child, I'm not here to do that," the stranger told her, a trace of compassion evident in his voice as he eyed her up and down. "Hurt you, I mean. So what's your name, girl?"

"U-Usagi, Sir," she sobbed, her wary eyes never leaving his face. "My friends call me Bunny."

"Well, _Konnichi wa_, Bunny-chan. My name is – well, you don't really need to know that. Just keep calling me 'Sir' if you so wish."

"Yeh-yes, Sir…!"

"Good girl. Now, do you mind if I take a seat?"

"_Huh?_ N-no…!"

"Please, Sir?"

"What is it, Bunny?"

"Why…why are you here? What are you going to do to me?"

"Well, you're going to find that out in a minute. I'm no saint, I admit that I have one major character fault," the stranger admitted to her as he sat down on the room's solitary chair. "I like young schoolgirls. Not _too_ young, mind you – I am no child abuser or anything like that. Girls about your age I like the best. So I have hired your services for the next half an hour."

At his words, Usagi let out another hopeless whimper of terror and she buried her face in her trembling arms, her tears flowing freely again.

"Now, now, don't be like that! Tell me, just how old _are_ you, Bunny-chan? Fifteen? Sixteen?"

"I'm only fifteen, Sir," Usagi answered warily through her sobs. "I'm just about to finish Juuban Middle School."

The stranger sighed. "That's all right, then – for me at least. I know that the official age of consent for _'__Enjo kosai'_ here in Juuban is eighteen, but that law has never been enforced _ever_. And, after all, the national age of consent in Japan _is _thirteen, but I wouldn't take anyone younger than you are, fifteen is about my limit." He stopped talking and stared at Usagi as she began to cry again. "You're not here by your own free will, are you? Something happened to you?"

"No, Sir, I'm not a _'Enko'_ subsidised dating girl working here for money or jewellery," Usagi replied in a broken voice. "I was grabbed in an alley, _hurt,_ then kidnapped from my home and taken here for men to – play with and abuse…! _I'm so scared! I don't want to do this, I just want to go home!"_

"I – sympathize with you, I really do. But I'm afraid that what you want is just not possible. Bunny-chan, if what you are telling me is true, then you were brought here by the yakuza for a purpose – to make money for your new owners. There is no way that they are just going to let you go."

Usagi looked at the man again, her swimming eyes taking in more details this time. Her customer was fairly young to be frequenting an establishment such as this – he couldn't have been more than twenty years old. He looked to be about Five foot Eight inches tall, with dark hair, wide shoulders and an athletic build. He wasn't bad looking either. At any other time, and if she hadn't already had her dear boyfriend, Mamo-kun, she might have been interested in a guy such as this, but now, under these circumstances…!

"So you are only here to use me and abuse me, too? How could you be so cruel? What possible satisfaction could you possibly get by seeing me in pain?"

_What indeed?_ He thought to himself. _So now I know for sure. She doesn't want to be here, doesn't belong here, and this life will probably end up killing her. Poor kid! Should I help her? Damn it, I already know that I will…!_

"Look, Bunny-chan. Before we go any further, there's something that you need to know. Do you see that object on the ceiling over there? That's a camera. This room is being monitored visually for probably twenty-four hours a day. There is no audio feed, so the watcher can't hear what is being said in this room – that is a concession to their important customers privacy – but then again, they don't need to hear, only observe."

"Oh-okay…! But why are they spying on me?" Usagi asked, her curiosity coming to the fore at his sudden change of subject. "I'm trapped in here, there's nothing I can do…"

"Two reasons. The first is to make sure that you don't harm yourself. The second is for them to make sure that you are serving your paying customers properly - and that you don't cost them any money."

"Cost them any money?" Her brow furrowed in puzzlement. "But how could I do that?"

He sighed. "Bunny-chan, the customers are going to be coming in here for only one reason, and that is _for you_. Then they pay their fee to the business on the way out. That is the sole reason for you being here, to make the owners money."

Usagi began to cry again. "So that is all I am to them, a slave?" she sobbed quietly.

"Yes. Now if you refuse your customers and kick up a fuss, the customers will be unhappy, and that will make the owners _very _unhappy. They probably won't beat you or anything like that – they won't want to damage your looks, you see – but they _will _starve you of food and drink until you finally come around to their way of thinking. They may even use an electrical device on you that won't leave any marks. They'll break you, Bunny-chan – and I don't want to see that happen."

"Now, this is going to seem very cruel to you, but you are going to have to have sex with me in this room, whether you want to or not, for the following very good reason. Because it would be very suspicious if I was to leave here without doing to you what I am paying them for – not without a _very, very good reason_. And the people behind this establishment have a very swift, painful and _permanent_ way of dealing with people who arouse their suspicions."

"I…_see,"_ Usagi murmured, shivering at the thought. "_Oh, Kami-sama!_ _I've got to do it with you…! I have no choice!"_

"_Exactly._ _You never did._ Even the fact that I am an acquaintance of the manager might not save you – or me, for that matter - if he thinks that we are planning something not to their benefit."

"Oh, please, please, Sir," Usagi begged. "But can you help me? If I do what you want, can you get me out of here, or at least tell my friends where I am so that they can rescue me?"

"Okay, Bunny-chan, it's a deal. Give yourself to me willingly and I'll do what I can. Have you got a name and a number of a family member or friend that I can contact to tell them where you are?"

"_Hikawa Shrine,"_ she gasped out, knowing that all of her friends were most likely to be there, and even if they weren't, Yuichiro or Grandpa would be. "Ask for Rei-chan, but if she's not there, just tell the person who answers the phone, okay? Can you remember this number?" Usagi repeated it to him several times, just to make sure that he remembered it properly.

"Okay, okay, I got it! I have an excellent memory."

"_Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!"_

"All right, but now it's time for you to fulfil your part of the deal. I'm running out of my paid time in here. Stand up, Bunny-chan, and let me have a good look at you." He grinned wryly, and added, "Even though its somewhat of a blow to my manly ego, I'm sure that you'll want to get this over with as fast as possible?"

Nodding unhappily, Usagi did as she was told. Even though she scarcely knew him, Usagi could somehow sense that she could trust her seemingly kindly customer. And he was right; it _would_ look very suspicious to the owner if he were to just leave the room after only talking to her, without even satisfying his manly urges after paying for her body. Usagi had no doubts at all that one of her captors would be monitoring the images from the tiny video camera mounted on the ceiling and that any suspicious behaviour from either of them would be immediately reported to the owner.

_No, I had to go through with it – I have no choice…!_

Trembling with nervousness, Usagi rose up unsteadily to her feet, then slipped out of her white robe, letting it drop unheeded to the wooden floor at her side, leaving her standing there, her cheeks crimson with shame, before the approving gaze of her buyer.

"_Nice,"_ he remarked appreciatively, beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow in anticipation of his pleasure to come. _"Very nice!_ All right, Bunny-chan, give me a slow twirl, then hop on the bed again – _pun not intended_ - and – well, you know what to do…"

Once again, Usagi did as she was requested. Then she knelt down on the futon and rested her head, facing the wall, on the soft pillow.

"Oh, please, _please,_ kind sir, be gentle with me? It – if you force too hard, it _hurts_ me…!"

"Don't worry," he assured her, divesting himself of his lower clothing as he spoke. "I'll be gentle with you – I have no desire to cause you any needless suffering." He hesitated for a moment, and then added, "As much as I'm looking forward to having you, are you _sure_ that you can go through with this? Maybe there's another way I can help-?"

"_Yes,"_ Usagi gasped out, even though she had never felt more like yelling out the word _'no!'_ in her entire life. "You were right, this _is_ the only way that they will believe you are only here for my body. And you're a whole heap younger and better looking than the abusive bastard who captured me. If I _have_ to do it with anyone in here, I want it to be with you!" She took a deep breath, steeled her faltering courage, and then added, "I'm – I'm ready! Please…_just do it!"_

"Very well. _And, Bunny-chan, I'm sorry…"_

True to his word he was gentle – far gentler than her original cruel abuser had been. In fact, there had been no comparison. Usagi just knelt there, teary eyes squeezed tightly shut, the occasional tiny gasp escaping her mouth, until it was over and done with.

"Well, Bunny-chan?" The man asked her as he wrapped one of the towels around his narrow waist and headed in the direction of the waiting shower. "How did it feel? I don't expect you to have liked it, but I tried to be as gentle as I could, considering that you are _incredibly_ sexy. I shouldn't have caused you much physical pain, if any."

"It – it wasn't too bad," Usagi admitted, rolling hurriedly over onto her back, then grabbing her discarded dressing gown up from the floor to cover her body. She stared up at her customer as he turned on the shower rose, before turning back to face her. "I hardly felt a thing and it wasn't painful at all…!"

Actually, Usagi was only just realising in wonder that her reluctant experience with her visitor had been… well, _almost enjoyable._ She had felt like that only one single time before – if her time with Minako-chan wasn't counted, of course…! That very first happy, loving occasion had been when she had freely and joyfully given herself to her dear Mamo-kun on that night of absolute pleasure after their defeat of Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. None of her friends knew anything at all about this – not even Luna. They all thought that she had been still a virgin. Usagi's eyes widened as she realized with a shock that if her just concluded experience with this man had gone on for even a little longer, like it had with Mamoru-kun - and Minako-chan - she might have even-! At _that_ thought, her cheeks turned pink again and she averted her eyes hurriedly from his face!

"I'm pleased to hear that. Hey, do you want to use the shower first? A nice hot shower will do you a world of good right now."

At his kind words, Usagi inexplicably burst into hot, salty tears. Instantly the man was at her side, concern clearly showing on his face.

"_I'm…I'm sorry,"_ Usagi sniffed, as he cradled her head in his arms. Without realizing it, her own slender arms had crept up around his back and she was hugging him tight. "It's just that you are the first man to show me any kindness - _any kindness at all! -_ since they kidnapped me from my own bedroom in my house! I miss my family, my friends – my dear love, Mamo-kun…! Oh, please, please say you'll save me from this horrible place? _Please!"_

"Don't worry, Bunny-chan," the man promised grimly. "I'm going to find a way to get you out of here, I promise! But until then, you must be strong. Don't lose faith in yourself or your friends. And do what you have to, to survive, until they can free you. I want you to promise me this, Bunny-chan, _promise me now."_

"_I promise,"_ Usagi whispered up to him, drying her tears on her sleeve. "I'll do as you say."

"Good. Now I'm going to have my shower and then get going, unless you want to have yours first?"

"Thank you, but you go first. The sooner you can get out of this horrible, horrible place, the sooner I can be free…!"

"Okay." He smiled reassuringly down at her. "I'm sure that you _will _make it safely through this unpleasant time in your life. You have a hidden strength about you, I can sense it."

"Not really," Usagi sniffed. "I'm a cry-baby, often clumsy, and I'm _not _very strong, but I know that I have to try to hold it together for my own sake. And if I don't manage to escape from here, please come back and visit me, often…?"

"You bet."

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_Hey, you guys!"_ 'Cream Man' suddenly announced to the men clustered around the car that he had ready to drive at a moments notice, once the other searchers had gotten word back to him that they had finally succeeded in cornering the elusive Sailor V. _"All right, everybody, gather around!"_

"I've just got a message from _Shateigashira_ Fujimori-sama," the enforcer continued, once he was sure that he had everybody's undivided attention, waving Naoto-san's radio at the motley crew for emphasis.

"Should we applaud, now?" Tsuneo Oono asked him sarcastically, leaning back against the car and lighting up his cigarette.

"Put a sock in it, Tsuneo-san! What I'm trying to say is that the boss got a tip-off earlier tonight from someone who claims that Minako is attempting to get back to the Hikawa Shrine in Juuban. Apparently, she's got some friends there who're helping her, too. _Shateigashira_ Fujimori-sama is still steamed at the loss of his fancy old sports car, and since we still haven't managed to corner damn Minako-Sailor V yet and take her down, he's ordered us to go straight to the Hikawa Shrine and level it to the ground instead! If Minako is there, he still wants her to be taken alive and delivered to Kabukicho, any other girls at the place are to be taken back to the 'Happy Hour' for interrogation. We're to get rid of anyone else there at the shrine, permanently!"

"Sounds good to me?" 'Nampa' replied, over the excited rumble of conversation that had sprung up at 'Cream Man's' declaration, an evil grin crossing his face. "But doesn't old Fujimori-sama know that Minako is Sailor V? She'll be quite a handful to take alive?"

"Yeah, he does now," his friend confirmed, as he grabbed a 'Winchester Defender' eight-shot, pump action riot shotgun out of the trunk of his car. "But with this pacifier at close range, she'll either have to give it up, or go down! And if she's as smart as I think she is, it'll be _'Option A'."_

"You figure that when she's confronted with twenty men armed with rifles and shotguns, she'll just give up, rather than risk a gun battle that'll only get her and all of her friends killed?" 'Nampa' queried his friend.

"Yeah, that's right, pal. Okay, everyone go tool up with the heavy stuff out of the trunks of the cars. We're gonna roll out of here in ten minutes!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_Well?"_ The manager grinned as his important customer entered his lavish office. "Here, pull up a seat. So how was she?"

"Excellent. _Most excellent_. Terrified at first, but she ended up putting out easily enough in the end. In fact, I sensed that she subconsciously even kind of enjoyed it."

"Good, we wouldn't want you to go away unsatisfied with our service here. You never can tell with these new, untried girls, some of them can be a real handful at first until they become used to what they're here for." Reaching down into a drawer on his desk, the manager produced a half full bottle of Bourbon and a pair of clean glasses. "Would you like a celebratory drink since you were the first customer of ours to have her? Congratulations! You were number one."

"Actually, I don't mind if I do. Fill her up."

"Would you like Coke with that?"

"Three fingers, thanks."

After waiting until their glasses had been filled and they both had sipped appreciatively at their drinks, the customer leant back on his padded chair and asked, "So where did you get Bunny from? It was pretty obvious that she didn't just walk in here looking to make a little bit of extra money servicing rich clients like me."

"Juuban, I think. As you know, our chain of Fashion-Health Clubs is affiliated with the Black Cap Yakuza, and it was some of them who brought her in earlier tonight. She's a real prize catch, as you saw, that's why we locked her away into one of the high security, secret rooms out back. Only the very few of our really rich, important clients whom can keep their mouths tightly shut are going to have the pleasure of her services, so consider yourself up there with the elite. And she's going to make my Club a real pile of money over her working life, you better believe!"

"That's good to know – on both those counts. But what _you_ should know is that she was absolutely terrified when she first saw me. It took me a while to calm her down and convince her that I wasn't going to hurt her." After taking a deep draft from his glass, he continued. "She also told me that she had been abused in an alley, and then kidnapped from her own bedroom…?"

"I don't like the way that some of the gang treat the girls that they catch," the manager admitted, frowning as he leant forward to top up his customer's glass. "Especially crazies like 'Cream Man' and his cronies. Crying, screaming teenage girls with fearful minds are no good to us; the customers prefer those schoolgirls who have a bit of spirit and can hold it together. Besides, most of the mentally damaged goods either hang themselves or go insane before too long, so not only do we lose out on their profits, but it also costs us further good money to replace them."

The customer hid his true feelings about that comment with an effort as he drained the remainder of liquid in his glass with a single gulp. "Well, it's been real fun, but I've got to hit the road. It's almost two o'clock in the morning now and I've got to get up to go to work at eight."

"Too bad." The manager gulped down his own drink and then leant forward to shake hands with his customer as they both rose to their feet. "We hope to have the pleasure of your custom back here again, real soon."

"I'll definitely be back within the week. I must confess I'm already looking forward to seeing that new girl, Usagi, again. Here, before I forget, I'll pay you for her services and the rest of my tab right now. Do you take Visa in here? I never leave home without it."

"It's accepted in over one hundred and fifty different countries, don't you know?" the manager laughed back. "Here's your bill."


	12. Chapter 12

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER TWELVE**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Rei Hino sat alone in the darkened room, the only light coming from the random flickering of the sacred fire burning in the fire pit in the centre of the floor. She was about to attempt to do what only she could – read the flames and find out what exactly had happened to her three missing friends, Usagi Tsukino, Ami Mizuno and Makoto Kino. Hopefully she could track down Diana as well, and maybe even locate the missing Tuxedo Kamen.

As Rei Hino knelt down on the mat, hands on her lap and stared into the flickering orange flames, she began to breathe slowly and rhythmically; blanking out her trained mind, stopping all thought, all emotion, all hearing. The pupils of her eyes expanded, the flames became a blur, a haze, an opening door…

Indistinct images began to form in Rei's head, flashing into her mind one after the other, never perfectly clear and sometimes in a totally random order, but usually always in a form that was comprehendible to her…

…_I see Minako-chan and Makoto-chan walking…there's Sailor V running…she stops, turns and fires her Crescent beam attack…! Wait, what's this…? I see a cat – Diana! She's in a dark place…there's running water, there? Where could that be…?_

Rei shook her head, and tried to relax more, to slip deeper into her trance. _Deeper…I must go deeper…_

…_And now I can see…Mako-chan, again. She's in a room, a bar…the 'Happy Hour' bar! She's fighting some men – oh, no, she's just been shot! Mako-chan!!_

…_Oh, there she is again…in a hospital room somewhere? She's still alive, thank god! But which hospital…? Wait, there's a sign…it says, 'National Medical Clinic'? That's not too far away from here, in Minami-Azabu… Yes! Mako-chan's still alive…!_

Even in the depths of her trance, a smile unconsciously formed on Rei Hino's lips at that piece of good news.

…_And there's Bunny-chan! I can see her and she's all right, thank god! …She's in a shower, and…she's crying…is she hurt? Bunny-chan! Where are you…? I can't tell…? I can't see a sign to tell us where you are…?_

A new image flickered into her open mind, the scene changed once more…

…_Diana, again… I think that she's underground, but where…? At least she's still alive, too…Luna and Artemis will be rapt! But where is Ami-chan? And Tuxedo Kamen…? I still can't see them…?_

The vision in her mind abruptly shifted a second time to a new and just as vague location…

…_Wait! Is that a light that I can see, now…? Where is this…? I'm in a park somewhere, amongst tall trees… I see a circle of - six huge, standing stones? Where am I? Now I'm heading into the light, through the light in the middle of the stones…! Am I dead? No, I'm somewhere else…somewhere dark and…somewhere evil…!_

Even as Sailor Mars, Rei Hino shivered almost uncontrollably in her deep trance at the chill that seemed to sink into her very soul as she passed through the portal into that strange, cold, hostile dimension. Her subconscious mind wanted her to snap out of her trance, to pull back and retreat from that place of unknown terrors, but her desire to find out why she was there drove her mind on.

…_This place is scary, but I must go on…I must find Ami-chan… Surely she can't have come here? Please sacred fire, show me where Ami-chan is…?_

Sweat was by now pouring down her forehead, but Sailor Mars forced herself to continue to interpret the flickering images that the sacred flame was feeding into her mind.

…_I see some funny looking tents…a campsite? And…and there is one of the occupants – no! No! It's a black demon, a big black monster with horns, an 'Oni' ogre demon…! This must be their home dimension that I've somehow accessed…?!_

Rei's sweating brow furrowed as her mind realized something else, a fact of chilling import!

…_But - but if I can see into the 'Oni' world, then that must mean that there is a portal somewhere in a park near here that they're using to access our world – and it's open, right now…!_

Rei's trembling grew more acute as her mind zoomed in on the terrifying creature that the all-seeing flame had discovered through the two-way hole into their bleak world.

_This one is standing near a cooking pit…there are a few others seated nearby…strange, the images are jumping back and forth again? This must be at two different times, on two different occasions…the 'Oni' are seated differently in each flickering image… Wait! What is that? I see two images, alternating back and forth of the fire pit...there is something tied up above the pit…two things tied up there, on two different days! And that one is – it can't be! And the other one has blue hair…No! No, it's Ami-chan! The Black demon there is going to – No! Noooooo!!_

Then Rei's eyes opened wide with shock and terror.

_Then she screamed, and screamed, and screamed…!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

At the sound of Rei Hino's anguished cries, Artemis and Luna burst into the room, to discover their friend writhing on the tatami mat, hands clutching her face, tears streaming out between her white knuckled fingers!

"Sailor Mars! _Sailor Mars!_ _What happened?"_ Luna shouted at her, red eyes wide with concern. _"What did you see?"_

Forcing her emotions back under control with a supreme act of will, Rei raised her tear streaked face up off the mat and, shivering uncontrollably, whispered out all that she had just seen to her two shocked guardians.

"So that's why none of us felt them – _pass away,"_ Luna sniffed, her red eyes filled with moisture. "Both Ami and Mamoru were in another dimension when they died…?"

"I wouldn't have wished that horrible fate on _anybody,"_ Artemis said quietly, bristling like a porcupine with a combination of sorrow and rage. "Least of all, our two friends…!"

"The perpetrators are going to pay for this, Rei, Artemis," Luna hissed, unsheathing her wicked looking claws. "I can promise you both that!"

"Hold on, guys! I – I think that I can feel some sort of imminent danger approaching the shrine?" Rei gasped out in warning, trying hard to suppress her shivering, and squinting her tearful violet eyes as she tried to make sense of an urgent, dancing series of images that were beginning to fade out of her numbed head. "And there's more than one enemy coming, too! One is coming towards us from the northeast, I think…? The other group is approaching the shrine from the southeast. I think that the second group is fairly close to us, now, too?"

"Is it Sailor V coming this way, pursued by the yakuza?" Luna asked, her sorrow at the loss of Ami and Tuxedo Kamen tempered by the immediate danger that they were all now in.

"I don't know?" Sailor Mars admitted, wiping her eyes as she tried hard to glean more information from the jumble of pictures in her distraught, shocked brain. "There _are _some men coming, I think – _armed men_ – but also, from the northeast – _something else…!"_

"Something else? Could it be – _a youma?"_ Artemis demanded, throwing a worried look at Luna who looked no less alarmed at the news.

"I'm not sure…? It could be? The images are fading…"

"How long have we got?" Luna asked. "If the odds are too great, we may have to evacuate this place, and fast!"

"It's hard to tell, Luna…but only a matter of minutes, I think?"

"Let's get going," Luna urged them both, lashing her tail. "We'll go with 'Evacuation Plan A'. Artemis, dematerialize the big map, your computer and anything else that you left on the table in the living room. Sailor Mars, you go and warn Yuichiro, then take up positions where you can cover the approaches to the shrine – near the steps would be best, I think? I'll go to the bottom of the steps and keep a watch there. If the odds are too great, we make a fighting retreat off this hill and then regroup at our emergency headquarters in the Crown Game Center, as per your plan, Artemis! Now, has anyone got any questions?"

"Just one," Sailor Mars asked, rising back up to her feet. "If it comes to a fight in the next few minutes, do I have to take any prisoners – even if they're not youma, but yakuza? After seeing what happened to Ami-chan and Tuxedo Kamen, I'm not in that frame of mind!"

Luna and Artemis exchanged glances. After receiving a grim nod from the white cat, Luna turned back to her now angry charge and replied, "We'll leave that up to you and your own judgement, Rei. We don't want open slather, but…just do what you have to do to stay alive…!"

"And don't get careless, or too carried away," Artemis added. "Hit and run! Got that? Stay under cover, inflict maximum damage, and then retreat if necessary! We need you alive and ready to fight, not dead like Ami and Mamoru, remember? And the same goes for Yuichiro, too!"

"Thanks, Luna, Artemis," Sailor Mars replied with grim satisfaction, dashing for the door. "We'll be careful, but now it's payback time!" Then she stopped suddenly and turned to look back at the pair of cats.

"Oh, before I forget? Makoto-chan and Diana are both still alive!" Sailor Mars quickly told the two cats. "Diana is in an underground tunnel somewhere, I think, but I couldn't see exactly where. But I know where Mako-chan is; she's a patient at the National Medical Clinic in Minami-Azabu. The nearest station to that is Hiroo, so if we survive tonight I'll take a train there tomorrow and see how she is. Thank god that we've found them both and that they're still alive!"

The worried look on the faces of the two guardian cats instantly changed to expressions of joy and relief at that rare bit of good news.

"So they _are_ both still alive?" Luna purred out, almost dancing a jig with joy. "Well done, Sailor Mars!"

"_Very well done,"_ Artemis added, letting out a huge, elated sigh. "Did you manage to see any sign of Usagi, as well?"

"Yes, I glimpsed Bunny-chan being held in a room, but I couldn't tell where, exactly," Sailor Mars answered. "Probably Kabukicho, like Sailor V informed you. She was upset, but seemed to be physically all right as well. But now I'd better go and find Yuichiro-kun. We don't have much time!"

"Yes, you're right. We'd best get on to it as well."

-:-:-:-:-:-

_Whoops! That was far too close…!_ Sailor V warned herself as a rifle bullet blew a large chunk of the power pole away next to her head, the flying splinters peppering her back with jagged slivers of wood. _These guys are pretty determined to get me. I can't seem to shake them!_

Leaping gracefully from the top of the hardwood pole to the tiled rooftop next to her, being very careful to avoid the multiple, lethal curves of the power lines as she did so, Sailor V rolled down the sloping surface and then dropped ten feet onto a concrete balcony. From the shadows of an exterior stairway across the street, two more gunshots cracked out, the bullets shattering a glass windowpane just off to her left. Instantly, Sailor V ducked down and raised her compact up with a fluid movement borne of long practise.

"Wow! This is getting hairy! _Crescent beam!!"_

The ray struck the platform, blowing both it and the two yakuza on it right off the wall, dropping the buckling steel structure and the shouting men down in a shower of sparks to the street below!

_Two more down – thirty at least to go!_

Moving swiftly, the golden haired sailor scout leapt across to the next balcony and then the one after that as lights came on all over the block of flats, punctuated by confused shouts of alarm from the waking residents within. Not that she could blame them – that groaning, crashing sound of tortured metal as the steps collapsed had been loud enough to wake the dead!

Reaching a thick, steel drainage pipe that dropped down from the spouting of the building to the rainwater drain beside the shadowy footpath below, Sailor V scrambled back up it to the safety of the roof.

Once there, after drawing back a bit to give her the room to build up a bit of speed, the beautiful sailor scout dashed forward and jumped, her strength and momentum carrying her safely across the frightening gulf below her to the roof of the opposing building. A gunshot rang out from somewhere off to her left and several men cried out at her sudden, fleeting appearance in mid air, but the bullet came nowhere near her. Rolling back to her feet, Sailor V then leaped straight off her perch onto the balcony below her, and from there to the ground.

But she wasn't out of the woods yet. Even as she rose back to her feet, Sailor V saw a dark shape looming up beside her on her left, and a second man ran towards her from her right, with something metallic gleaming in his outstretched right hand!

Turning swiftly, Sailor V dodged the first attack from the yakuza on her left. As he stumbled past her, cursing at his missed grab, Minako buried her white-gloved right hand into the side of his thick neck, just behind his ear. The cursing from her assailant turned into a cry of pain and then a shriek of anguish as his now-vastly increased impetus carried him headfirst through the front display window of the shop in his path with an almighty crashing and tinkling of falling plate glass!

Using her own momentum gained from her punch, Sailor V pivoted and lashed out with a sidekick, directly under the jaw of the second man! Such was the force behind the blow, the hapless yakuza performed a backwards somersault, his wickedly-bladed knife sailing out of his hand, to be snatched out of mid air by his beautiful opponent. Then he crashed face first down onto the concrete pavement and lost all further interest in the proceedings!

Sensing a third man in the shadows, Minako moved her head just in time! As she ducked and crouched, a bullet grazed the top of her left shoulder, carving a nasty, red-hot graze across its upper surface. Before the man could trigger off a second shot, the confiscated blade of her first attacker winged its spinning way through the cold night air, burying itself deep into the gunman's unprotected throat! With a gargling cry of agony, hands clutching at the fatal wound, he fell twitching to the ground, out of the fight for good!

Scooping up the discarded pistol, Sailor V thumbed off a flurry of shots at the black shapes just turning the corner of the building, back in the direction from which she had come. One man fell, another stumbled to his knees and then the gun was empty. Flinging the now useless piece away, Sailor V dropped and rolled desperately along the sidewalk, multiple bullets whining like angry hornets both above and beside her sailor suited body. Somehow she reached the safety of the next corner and made it back to her feet again. Then Minako fled down the next alley, jagged chunks of corner masonry being blasted off the brickwork behind her by the bullets of her frustrated pursuers!

_Boy, 'Cream Man' and his buddies really, really want me bad! I know that I'm popular with men, but this is ridiculous…!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_Yuichiro-kun?"_ Sailor Mars called out anxiously to him as she and Luna raced towards the moonlit _torii_ gates and the stone stairway that led down the hill from the Hikawa Shrine to the road below. _"Where are you?!"_

"_Down here, Rei-babe!"_ he called back to her. "I'm about a quarter of the way down, on the left hand side of the steps!"

"Gotcha! Can you see any sign of the yakuza, yet?"

"Not yet, Babe!"

Jumping off the stone steps onto the grass and leaf covered slope, whilst Luna continued on down towards the road at a run, Sailor Mars quickly, but carefully because of the heavy dew on the grass, made her way to the side of her boyfriend. The barely visible Yuichiro beckoned to her from his cover behind the twisted trunk of a huge _Somei Yoshino_ sakura tree, where the bank had levelled out for a couple of metres into a natural firing platform with a good view of the road below in both directions. The site also had the added advantage of being deep in shadow, and consequentially being hard to see from the illuminated street below.

"Hey, Rei," Yuichiro grinned at her from under his helmet and safety goggles. "So how much time have we got before the action starts?"

"Not long now," she told him, crouching down at his side. "No more than minutes. I can definitely feel that something is going to happen soon…!"

"Okay, I'm all ready, the bazooka is loaded and ready to fire. All I need now is a target…_Look, Babe!_ Something's coming back up the hill!"

"Don't shoot, it's me!" Luna panted, coming to a stop next to them. "I can hear at least six car engines approaching along the road from behind the left hand bend down there. Keep a good eye on things while I go up to the shrine to warn Artemis. And you two, _be careful! _If it is the Yakuza, they'll have plenty of guns, and I don't want to see either of you hurt. Remember your training, Sailor Mars, and use it, okay?_"_

"We will, I promise," Sailor Mars told her, white-gloved hand on her heart.

"Good. And good luck to you both." And with that, Luna dashed off up the shadow-clad bank once again and disappeared into the darkness.

Just as the black cat vanished from view, the growl of a number of approaching engines floated to the ears of the two anxious but determined shrine defenders.

"Well, it looks like the party is about to start?" Yuichiro commented in a mixture of nervousness and anticipation as the first in a convoy of seven cars rounded the distant bend with a blaze of headlights and approached slowly along the street below them in their direction. "It's Showtime!"

"_Yep!"_ Sailor Mars answered, despite her anger and thirst for revenge still feeling a stab of apprehension at the sheer number of enemies that must be inside that number of vehicles. "Yuichiro-kun?"

"Yes, Rei-babe?"

"I'm not going to let them come up here and destroy my home," she declared resolutely, fire in her eyes. "I'm going to do everything that I can possibly do to save my home, my possessions and my friends. But please, please don't get yourself hurt on my account? Please look after yourself and stay safe, okay?"

Yuichiro's heart skipped a beat at the look in her lovely eyes. "I will," he promised her. "I won't do anything stupid. And Rei-chan? Just make sure that you do the same, okay? Please come back to me?"

"_Yuichiro-kun…!"_

"_Promise me!"_

"I will, I promise. Look, they're almost here, and I can see that some of them are holding guns out of the side windows! It's the yakuza, all right, and they've definitely come for us, like Sailor V said. Are you absolutely sure that you know how to fire that launcher, Yuichiro-kun? We're going to need it!"

"No worries! I can handle the bazooka, Rei-chan. Can you reload for me? I can touch off my shots a lot faster that way. And make sure that you stay well away from the rear of the tube. I'd hate like hell to toast your buns with the back blast, okay, Babe?"

"S-sure, Yuichiro-kun," Sailor Mars stuttered, amazed at his confidence about handling the very dangerous weapon. "But you're holding this thing far too easily and confidently for this to be only the second or third time that you've used it, or something similar. Come on, _spill!"_

"Ah, gimme a minute, here?" He interrupted her, raising up the green tube onto his shoulder and squinting down the rudimentary sights on the barrel as he angled it down towards their unwelcome guests on the well-illuminated road below. "Our visitors are in range and the front car is a sitting duck! Stand back, Babe…!"

A flaming bolt of fire arched its way out of the black trees on the forested slope, to strike the lead vehicle directly in the front windshield! The car erupted in a fireball, all four doors and every window blew out simultaneously in geysers of flame! The yakuza inside probably never even knew what hit them, they were dead the second that the shell struck their vehicle.

"_And reload!"_ Yuichiro ordered grimly, tilting the smoking bazooka backwards to make the process easier for her and staring with a mixture of disbelief and satisfaction at the outstanding result of his first shot. The yakuza convoy had come to an immediate halt behind the flaming lead vehicle, shouts and screams from the panicking men accompanied by random shots at nothing hinted at the chaos unfolding on the brightly lit road below them.

Sailor Mars stood there gaping for a second or two, then hurriedly ran forward with the fresh round. _"What a shot!"_ she gasped out, almost unable to believe the evidence of her own eyes as she reloaded his weapon. "That'll teach those raping scum a lesson! But how on earth did you manage to do that from _this_ distance, Yuichiro-kun?"

"I wasn't always a rock singer, Rei-babe," Yuichiro told her with quiet confidence from behind his helmet and goggles. "Straight after I left college I joined the JGSDF for a year-long stint in the artillery. I can fire much bigger weapons than this…!"

"_You did?!_ But what made you leave the army and become a rock singer? Not that I'm complaining, if you hadn't done that I would have never met you!"

"I left because music was always my first love, and I don't like to hurt people. I come from a family with a long, military tradition, but I'm naturally a pacifist, you see? But in the case of this gang of yakuza, after what they've done to our friends, I'm glad for once to make an exception! Let them face the music for once!"

"_Yuichiro-kun,"_ Sailor Mars sighed out with delight. Her boyfriend was turning out to be far, far more than she had ever thought him to be…!

"Okay, Rei, stand clear! _Fire in the hold!!"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

From behind the trunk at the rear of his hastily parked car, the front of which was half on the sidewalk, half on the asphalt roadway, 'Nampa' Konno watched in horror as a second vehicle blew itself sideways across the street in front of him with a loud boom and the flash of exploding gas! Two shrieking men were sent spinning in the opposite direction by the force of the explosion, and neither rose up again from where they fell. A fiery tyre bounced into the air, then thumped off the roof of his car, before rolling at a wonky angle off down the road behind him, trailing a ribbon of twisting black smoke!

"_Shit a brick!"_ 'Nampa" Konno shouted out, eyes bugging in alarm at what he had just seen. _"Where the hell did they get a rocket launcher from?"_

"_Fucked if I know?"_ 'Cream Man' shouted back with trepidation, from where he had taken cover behind the concrete wall of a yard on the other side of the road. _"But it's already taken out two of our cars!"_

"_Get the hell away from the vehicles!"_ 'Nampa' yelled at the other men_. "That's what they're aiming for! Spread out; take cover behind the trees and the roadside wall! Fire at the muzzle flash of that damned rocket launcher!"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"All right, Yuichiro-kun, my turn," Sailor Mars told him, rising up from beside him after she had reloaded the bazooka for a second time. "I can't let you have all of the fun! Can you cover me from here? Give me ten seconds and then take out that car on the extreme left, over there, the one that drove straight into that tree. I can come in from behind that and the flames will prevent them from seeing my approach."

"Gotcha, Babe. Take care!"

"Don't worry, I will. We've got a lot of avenging to do yet!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

A third car erupted into smoke, flame and twisted metal, but this time both 'Nampa' and 'Cream Man' were ready. None of their men were hurt this time, either, having correctly deduced that their transportation was the prime target of the lethally accurate rocketeer. Both men pinpointed the location of the hidden sniper the second that Yuichiro fired, the twisting trail of the bazooka shell pointing directly back to his position.

"_Right there!"_ 'Cream Man' yelled out, _"Behind that big tree about halfway up the slope, just to the right of that stairway! Concentrate your fire on that position and drive him back!"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Whew!" Sailor V breathed out in a long sigh of relief, looking back the way that she had come from her perch upon a pedestrian overbridge above a busy, multi-lane road. "It looks like I've finally lost them? And about time, too…it's well after two in the morning!"

Minako was too experienced to drop her guard just yet, though. Just because there were no yakuza in sight along the lane that she had just traversed, didn't mean that they couldn't be at this very minute converging upon her from another direction. So, very cautiously she moved off at a low crouch, eyes and ears open for any sign of nearby trouble.

And that was her undoing. Just as she reached the far end of the illuminated overbridge, under which a number of trucks were parked in a lot next to a diner beside the road, disaster struck! A rifle bullet, fired from less than a hundred metres away, struck the metal guard rail just in front of her right hand, screaming off in a ricochet! Taken totally by surprise, the startled Sailor V involuntarily leapt backwards, the back of her head cracking _hard_ against the metal guard rail behind her! The impact dropped her onto her knees; she stumbled sideways and then fell thirty feet straight down into the open tray of the truck parked directly beneath her at the time. Minako's head bounced off a wooden crate as she landed in a crumpled heap and darkness washed over her senseless form.

Less than thirty seconds later and well before any yakuza could arrive on the scene, the truck driver arrived back at his vehicle with a paper cup of steaming hot coffee and a burger. And in under a minute he was pulling his rig back out onto the road again, totally unaware of his unconscious passenger now taking an involuntary ride on his conveyance.


	13. Chapter 13

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Back at the fiery siege of the Hikawa shrine, Yuichiro was now in serious trouble. As bullets zipped and tore harmlessly into the wide tree trunk that he had hurriedly taken cover behind, the young rocketeer ignored his own predicament for the moment, his unselfish thoughts were instead on whether his beautiful companion had managed to reach her new position unobserved and unhurt.

His concern for her was at that moment unwarranted, for further down and along the steep, black, shadow wreathed bank, Sailor Mars had just managed to work herself into a perfect firing position, with an unobstructed view down on the yakuza that were now firing steadily at Yuichiro's position and beginning to advance from tree to tree up the bank in his direction. At that sight, she realized that there was no time to lose!

"_Fire Soul Bird!!"_

Immediately a rippling wave of flame roared from her outstretched hands like the blast from a flamethrower, speeding down as straight as an arrow to engulf the nearest portion of the stone fence that a number of the gunmen were firing from. Ignoring the shouts and screams of pain that were rising out of the blast area, she instantly turned her attention to the next car along from the one that Yuichiro had just moments before destroyed. She had seen by the light of the flickering flames from her attack that a gunman was at that very minute pulling a very large rifle with a scope on it out of the trunk…!

"_Burning Mandala!!"_

Rotating Kanji symbols immediately formed out of the thin air behind Sailor Mars, and from her fingertips a powerful precision blast of multiple triangles of fire sped in a steady stream at almost bullet speed directly into the side of the car, tearing through it and igniting the petrol tank. The car blew in a spectacular explosion, showering the entire area with flaming debris! And of the rifleman, nothing more could be seen.

A bullet hummed past her left ear, followed by a second that smacked into the grass off to her right. But the third bullet took Sailor Mars directly under her left breast, dropping her to her knees with the sudden pain and shock of the impact! Hurriedly rolling backwards until she was safely behind the thick, protective trunk of the tree, the worried sailor scout quickly but carefully examined the area of her injury, further bullets thudding into the tough wooden barrier as she did so. But apart from a brief stab of pain as her finger touched the bruise on her chest, all seemed to be fine.

_Whew! Just as well that was a small calibre bullet and that our bodies are a lot tougher and harder to hurt when we've transformed into sailor scouts?!_ Rei breathed out gratefully to herself. _If I'd been just normal Rei Hino when that bullet hit me, I would've been seriously hurt. Thank god that poor Mako-chan was Sailor Jupiter when she was shot in the head, too? Being transformed saved her life…!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Hey, 'Nampa'!" 'Cream Man' called out to his friend, whom was at that moment busy on his radio link back to their headquarters. "That's definitely Sailor Mars over there in those trees!" He levelled his pump action shotgun at the tree trunk where she had taken cover behind and squeezed off a charge, just to keep her head down, as a group of his men moved in on her along the tree covered slope. "Damn it, it looks like were up against at least one more of the sailor senshi, as well as that damn rocket launcher up there?!"

"And I've just filled _Shateigashira_ Fujimori-sama in on our situation. He's sending us a bunch of reinforcements, and we've just had our orders changed as well. Now that we know for sure that we're up against the sailor scouts, we're to forget about trying to take any of them alive, even Minako – even if she is or isn't Sailor V at the time. We're to whack them all, right now, while they're outnumbered and off balance, before they can recover and take the fight to us. Our organization definitely doesn't need _their_ type of heat on us! And we're to do it fast, before the cops can mobilize enough force in the area to make us have to retreat!"

"Fair enough! Hey, 'Nampa', I just thought of something…? That tall girl that I shot in the head at the 'Happy Hour' bar must have been Sailor Jupiter?" 'Cream Man' declared, a thoughtful frown wrinkling his perspiring brow as he recalled an annoying memory that had been bugging him before. "I _thought _that she looked familiar when she came busting in through our window in the bar room? And since we kidnapped and abused both Sailor V and probably Sailor Moon, as well - no wonder the sailor scouts are pissed at us!"

"Yeah. So we leave none alive. Even one left above ground is too many for us to take the risk!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

From her position of temporary safety behind the sturdy tree, Sailor Mars jerked her head back behind the thick trunk as a pattern of buckshot whistled past, stirring at her hair and ripping a patchwork of tiny holes into the hardwood that was shielding her slender body. Then another, larger calibre bullet from a different angle send splinters of wood flying from the tree trunk only inches away from her head. Looking up, Sailor Mars saw the darting black silhouettes of a small group of yakuza advancing from tree to tree in her direction. They were on the bank to the left of the blazing car and were firing as they came!

_I've got to get out of here! They've got me trapped behind this tree, but I can't stay here or else they'll get me for sure!_

Fortunately, Yuichiro had somehow noticed her desperate plight. A bazooka round came lancing down from his new position, to strike the bank only metres away from the cautiously advancing group of gunmen! As the diving men were bowled off their feet by the force of the blast, Sailor Mars took her chance and darted back up the dark bank, then leapt up into the branches of a conifer tree. From her lofty perch, arms hugging the rough trunk of the huge Japanese Pine, she saw that there was no way that the two of them could possibly hold on and successfully defend the wooded bank. From the muzzle flashes sparking out amongst the shroud of blackness under the trees below, she saw that they would both be outflanked in a matter of mere moments!

"_Yuichiro-kun!!"_ She screamed out, heedless in the urgency of the situation that her doing so would betray her hidden position to the enemy. _"Pull back to the shrine!!"_

"_Gotcha!" _his faint reply came to her straining ears over the rapid crashing of rifle and pistol shots and the odd deeper boom of shotguns._ "Just you remember to pull back, too!"_

A bullet hummed past her new position, another tugged at her red skirt as it tore at the tough fabric, and then a charge of buckshot smashed into the branch under her, showering shredded bark up into her long, smooth legs. _That cinched it._

In a mighty bound, Sailor Mars jumped a full twenty metres up over the rim of the artificial plateau on top of the small hill, to alight gracefully on the flagstone courtyard in front of the main entrance that led into the shrine _haiden_.

"_Artemis! Luna! We can't hold out here much longer! But I'm not going to let them destroy Grandpa's and my home without a fight!"_

Yuichiro appeared puffing at her side and grasped her left arm urgently, just as the two cats made their appearance. "Rei-babe! Retreat into the building, quick! They're right behind me!"

The truth of his words was quickly and shockingly evident as a bullet smacked against his right side, spinning him around and dropping him down onto one knee.

"_Yuichiro-kun!"_ Sailor Mars screamed out in horror as she saw him hit. A second bullet suddenly struck her in the back as well, staggering her forward, but bouncing off her super tough, transformed clothing and skin, as had the first bullet to strike her down on the bank.

Just as he regained his balance again, Yuichiro saw the love of his life hit. With no time to raise the bazooka up to the firing position, the angry rock star cut loose from under his arm, the shell blasting a fiery chunk out of the wooden fence just in front of the first gunman to top the bank, throwing him with a loud scream back down out of sight again!

Sailor Mars ran to his side to support him and his backpack of ammo as he made it back onto his feet. "I'm fine, Rei-chan," He gasped out, even though the bottom half of his face looked to be very pale in the bright moonlight. "My flack jacket deflected the bullet and most of the impact…! _But, you…?"_

"It hurts like heck, but it bounced off me…I'm okay!"

"_Get inside!"_ Artemis yelled out, as they both staggered towards the wooden steps and the open doorway in front of them. _"There's more yakuza coming! Run!"_

Both of them made it into the building, but only just. Once she was safely inside, Sailor Mars braved the shower of bullets - one of which passed through her streaming black hair - to send a prolonged blast of flame along the entire visible width of the courtyard outside her window, setting the wooden fence at the edge of the bank to blazing merrily.

"That should hold them for a couple of minutes?" she declared, ducking back down under the window again. "Artemis, Luna, what are we going to do? There's far too many of them out there for Yuichiro-kun and me to stop!"

"We're going to have to retreat to the Crown Game Center," Artemis decided firmly. "We can't hold them here, and it would be suicide to try for any longer. No, Sailor Mars, I know that this is your home, but homes can be rebuilt! If you lose your life you can't get that back!"

"Listen to Cat-dude, Rei-babe," her boyfriend urged her as she tried to argue. "Your life is much more important than the shrine. Once we've won this war, we'll all come back to help you and Grandpa to rebuild it. You have my word!"

"Everybody…! Oh, it's so hard…!"

Just then, the loud agitated cawing of the two huge ravens, Phobos and Deimos, assailed their ears from the moonlight washed treetops behind the shrine. And at the exact same time a sudden chill of fear raced up Sailor Mars's back. And she _knew_ that something terrible had just arrived on the scene!

"_Watch out!"_ she cried out, her eyes jerking upwards to stare at the roof above her, just as bullets began to thud into the walls of their refuge once again. _"The youma is here!!"_

A loud thump sounded up on the tiled roof, and then with a ripping, splintering sound, a large section of the ceramic tiles and wooden ceiling was abruptly torn away right before their startled eyes. Then a pair of huge, yellow shining orbs was staring down upon them from the pitch black hole in the ceiling. A double row of knifelike teeth gleamed for a second, and then a long, red, very muscular, clawed arm reached down through the disintegrating ceiling towards them!

Luckily, Yuichiro had taken time during their momentary respite to reload the bazooka, and he yanked it up onto his shoulder to point it at the hideous creature that was rapidly ripping its way into their place of refuge. He fired the powerful weapon, just as the wide-eyed and frantic Sailor Mars sent a blast of flame upwards at the monster as well!

With a thunderous roar and flash, the shell exploded as it struck the ceiling, blowing the creature upwards like it had been shot out of a cannon! At the same time, Rei's sheet of flame engulfed the beast in a searing, crackling shroud of fire! The blazing youma disappeared backwards and out of their sight with a hideous screech, to thump back down onto the roof in a thrashing medley of howls and screams as it burnt up and dissolved away into ash.

At the sight of the youma, Artemis and Luna had taken cover through the doorway of the next room. Sailor Mars had taken the brunt of the blast from the exploding shell, she had flung herself in front of Yuichiro to protect him the second after she had cut loose with her flame. Now they were tangled together in a heap against the far wall, battered and bruised, but luckily both still alive.

"_Are you both all right?"_ Luna breathed, eyes wide with worry. "That was some tumble that you both just took!"

"_Umpf,_ yeah, I'm fine," Yuichiro replied in a shaky tone, gingerly rolling over onto his knees as he lifted the teenage girl up and off him. _Wow! How can someone so soft and warm as Rei-babe, so easily withstand an explosion like that?_

"Sailor Mars? Are you hurt?"

"No, not too badly… I'm a lot tougher than I look…!"

"We're trapped in here, surrounded on all sides by the yakuza, and the building is on fire," Artemis informed them, having taken a quick look out through a bullet-shattered board at the fiery scene outside. "We can't stay here any longer, guys, it's time to go!"

"My home!" Sailor Mars cried out tearfully. "I can't just let it burn to the ground!"

"I'm sorry, Rei," Luna sympathized to her. "But if we stay, we'll all die, either shot by the yakuza or burned to death inside this building. We have to go, right now!"

"Oh-okay, but how? If we're surrounded, we've got no way out?"

"Yes there is. Everybody, hold hands, quickly! We're going to try a sailor teleport to get us to the Crown Game Center."

"_A sailor teleport?!_ Can both you and Artemis do that, Luna? I didn't know that you could…?"

"Yes, we both possess that ability, Rei," she confirmed in a confident tone. "Hurry! There's no time to lose!"

Throwing a disbelieving look at the just as baffled Yuichiro, whom had just finished slinging the bazooka over his shoulder by its carrying strap, Sailor Mars grabbed his outstretched right hand and took Luna's paw in her other one. Luna and Artemis linked their tails together and Artemis placed his right paw into Yuichiro's big left hand. "But - but there's only four of us? And Yuichiro-kun isn't even a sailor scout! How can we-?!"

"That's enough to do it, with Artemis and myself here. All right, now, everybody, _concentrate!"_

Closing their eyes, all four of the shrine defenders began to concentrate hard on their destination, visualizing the outside of the Crown Game Center in their minds. A yellow glowing cylinder of light engulfed their sitting bodies – but not soon enough! The first wild-eyed gunman burst through the doorway and aimed his semi-automatic rifle at them – just as the two angrily cawing ravens swooped down through the smouldering hole in the ceiling and flew directly into his face, ferociously attacking him with beak and claw! As the yelling, half blinded man sprayed bullets wildly around the room, the sitting quartet faded away into thin air – just in time! Their task completed, the two huge ravens quickly winged their way back out through the hole in the roof once again, vanishing into the cover of the night.

-:-:-:-:-:-

At the National Medical Clinic, in the nearby Minami-Azabu Ward, the time was now just after 2:15 am in the early hours of Sunday morning. And in her comfortable bed in her private room in the recovery ward, Makoto Kino was just now waking up for the second time that night.

What had brought her back to full consciousness, she could not know. But _something_ had – some sixth sense, some premonition of danger, maybe even her awakening so fortuitously at that exact moment was merely a fluke. But awake she did – just in time to see a black shape walk stealthily into her dimly lit room _through the closed window and the solid wall surrounding it!_

Makoto lay perfectly still, goose bumps racing up her back and her hair standing on end with the shock of what was happening right there in front of her three-quarter closed eyes. There was a _monster_ in her room – a youma, maybe even the very same one that Artemis and Luna had sensed in the alley on the night that Usagi-chan had been viciously attacked? As Makoto lay there, frozen in place, she also realized with a frantic beating of her heart that if she had woken up only twenty seconds later, it might have been too late for her. She would then, in all probability, never have awoken again for she would have been dead.

But now it was the youma who would be receiving a surprise. Even though she wasn't wearing her sailor scout uniform, she _was_ still Sailor Jupiter right at that very minute. At no time since her injury in the 'Happy Hour' bar had she changed back to being just Makoto Kino. And that happenstance was just about to save her life!

_After I fry this thing's ugly ass, I'd better get the heck out of here, back to the others at the shrine?_ Makoto told herself, warily observing the monster and biding her time until the right moment for her to strike. _I know that I'm badly injured, but now that the youma know that I'm here, I'm dead if I stay. Sooner or later I'll fall asleep again and then they'll have me…!_

She waited until the slowly and silently approaching youma was mere meters away from her bed; yellow eyes glowing with hatred, fangs bared and wickedly hooked claws extended to rip into her supposedly helpless body. Then the civilian attired sailor scout suddenly rolled sideways towards the now shocked and startled monster, thrust out both of her hands towards its hideous, wide-eyed and open-mouthed face, and yelled out, _"Supreme Thunder Dragon!!"_

At that close a range, Sailor Jupiter's attack was devastating. Not only did the colossal lightening discharge fry the hapless monster into ash on the spot, the exploding electrical bolt also blasted out the window and a good section of the wall beside it with the concussive fury of a bomb blast!

Yaadrig the youma had also made his first, last and final mistake.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Hey, we made it!" Sailor Mars gasped out as the four escapees rematerialized on the neon lit street right outside the Crown Game Center. "Wow! Who would have thought that the four of us could have managed a sailor teleport without the help of the other four inner senshi?"

"Yeah!" Yuichiro exclaimed, looking around him with surprise. "That was intense!"

"It's not unheard of, Rei," Luna informed her, though more than a touch of relief was also evident in her voice at their stunningly successful escape. "Both Artemis and I possess the ability to sailor teleport with the help of several others, and Yuichiro somehow possessed the ability, too, thank goodness! Artemis worked out on his computer before the attack that the four of us together possessed just enough power to pull it off."

"That was our ace up our sleeve, people! Okay, we've made it to our backup base safely, and there's no possible way that we could have been followed, either," Artemis interrupted. "Let's hurry up and get ourselves inside the building and off this main shopping street! We don't know who or what could be out there watching for us?"

"But how do we get in, Artemis?" Sailor Mars asked. "At this time of night the place is closed, and our friend, Motoki Furuhata, would have gone home hours ago?"

"Don't worry, Sailor Mars," Luna told her. "Both Artemis and I have keys to this place. This room late at night was where I used to report into 'Central Control' before I found out that it was only Artemis goofing off and wasting my time!"

"_Goofing off?"_ Artemis exclaimed, scandalized at the slur to his good name. "I fed you a lot of valuable information about the Dark Kingdom back then, Luna, in case you have forgotten?"

"Ah, cat-dudes, are we going inside, or what?" Yuichiro interrupted them, still looking uneasily around at their luckily still deserted surroundings. "I'm carrying a bazooka and a large backpack of shells for it, here! And I'm quite sure that we don't need any passers by noticing that and calling the cops, don'tcha know?"

"Yuichiro's right," Artemis agreed testily. "Just get the door open, Luna, and we'll sort this _hissy-fit_ of yours out once we're all safely hidden away inside."

"_Hissy-fit?_ Why you, tuna-sucking, pasty faced, old reprobate!" Luna scolded him as she tossed her rematerialized key up into the anxious looking Sailor Mars's outstretched right hand, and then stepped out of the way as she quickly unlocked the door. "I'll have you know that we could have beaten the Dark Kingdom even without your help!"

"_And pigs might fly!_ Don't forget that I was the one who found the first sailor scout, Sailor V, even before you had arrived here from the thirtieth century, Luna? _Furthermore-!"_

He broke off his speech in amazement as Luna began to smile at his expression, and then chuckle, to finally break out into a gale of laughter! And it was infectious – within a second or two, he, too, was rolling on the ground with mirth.

"Oh my goodness," Luna gasped out. "That little bit of stress relief was just what we both needed, don't you think, Artemis? After a battle, there's nothing quite like a good bit of _tête-à-tête_ to lighten the mood, don't you agree?"

"Yes, I understand what you were doing, now, Luna," he grinned at her. "We were all just a bit too tense after our narrow escape and – _whaoww?!"_

A white-gloved hand had suddenly reached through the now open doorway, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and jerked him into the building. A second later, Luna had also suffered the same fate from the big right hand of Yuichiro.

"If you both are going to continue your comedy act, can you _please_ do it inside the Crown Game Center and not outside on the street?" Sailor Mars scolded the abashed pair of cats as they were set back down onto the carpet. "We're on the run, here!"

"Sorry, Rei, you're right," Artemis confessed to her, a little guiltily. Then he was immediately back to his usual, professional self.

"I'm sorry, too, Rei," Luna said, looking just as contrite in the reflected light of the room. "There is a time and a place for everything, and that was the wrong time…!"

"Okay, I understand," Sailor Mars told them, looking a bit embarrassed at her own actions towards her guardians. "I'm sorry for speaking to you like that, as well. So, what do we do now?"

"Artemis?" Luna queried. "Lead on, if you will?"

"There are some private rooms downstairs that we can use to hide out in," the white cat told them as the quartet moved across the dimly lit room between the rows of gaming machines towards the flight of steps that led down into the basement rooms of the multi-storied arcade building. "Once we get ourselves stowed away down there, we should be safe from discovery for as long as it takes for us to find our missing friends and get ready to strike back against the yakuza. The first round may well have gone to them, but now it's our turn!"

"And we'd better find time to get some sleep in, too?" Luna added. "It's almost three o'clock in the morning and we're all sure to be having a big day tomorrow."

_A big day is right,_ the still angry and exhausted Rei Hino thought to herself as she followed the two cats down the staircase. _We've got a lot of scores to settle…! Oh, Mako-chan, Bunny-chan, Diana, where are you all…? I'd give anything just now to have you all and Ami-chan back with me right now…!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

Sailor Mars would have been even more worried about Makoto Kino if she could have seen her injured friend right at that minute. At that very moment, Sailor Jupiter was stumbling along beside a badly lit railway track, heading back towards Juuban on a path that she hoped would keep her out of sight of any lurking enemies.

After frying the youma, Makoto had decided against transforming back into normal Makoto Kino before she had escaped from the hospital ward. Firstly, she knew that she was probably seriously injured and that a transformation back to her weaker self might be enough to put her back into her coma, or even kill her. Secondly, that explosion was already bringing people running to investigate its cause, and a chorus of alarmed shouting could be heard from the other wards as patients and medical staff alike cried out in confusion and panic. Thirdly, as she arose up from her bed onto her unsteady feet, she noticed her green and white Sailor Jupiter outfit, freshly washed, ironed and folded, sitting on top of the desk on the left hand side of her bed.

Wasting no time, Sailor Jupiter had hurriedly put on her shoes and wristwatch communicator, grabbed up her outfit and stuffed it into a large plastic bag for ease of carrying, and then moved as swiftly as she could to the gaping hole in the wall that had once held the window. Makoto teetered on the edge of the drop, noticing that she was on the third storey – normally well within her capabilities to jump down as Sailor Jupiter – but in her weakened, injured state…?

Then the crashing of the double doors of her room bursting open made her mind up for her. She couldn't afford to be caught and held for questioning by the hospital security guards – not when there could be other youma loose in her vicinity!

Taking a deep breath, Makoto jumped, aiming for the grass lawn that she could see beyond the illuminated concrete path below her. She hit the lawn on her feet, but stumbled and fell hard onto her side as her weakened legs refused to bear the shock of the impact.

"_Oh, Kami-sama, that hurt…!"_ She whimpered to herself, feeling as though she was going to pass out again at any second.

After a few seconds, Sailor Jupiter forced herself back up onto her feel and staggered off, still clutching her plastic bag full of clothing, in the direction of the nearest road. Once there, she had crossed over to the other side during a gap between traffic and kept going down a side street until she had reached a railway crossing. Turning off the side road at that point, the weakened sailor scout had begun to walk along the track through the darkness in the direction that an earlier sign had informed her led to Juuban.

But now her legs were wobbling badly and she was nearing the end of her strength. There was no way that she could make it back to the Hikawa shrine without a rest. And her wristwatch communicator had proved to be no help at all – all that she could receive on it was static.

"I've got to find a place to rest and recover," Makoto told herself, panting heavily and leaning against one of the rare lampposts for a quick break from her walking. "I feel like I could collapse at any moment, now…?"

But Makoto Kino's luck was in. After continuing along the railway tracks for another hundred meters or so, she discovered, under a road overpass, an unlocked storage room built into the concrete side of the structure. Shoving open the door in grateful relief, the exhausted, injured teenager first switched on the small, low watt light inside the tiny room, slid the door bolt across to lock it from the inside and then collapsed senseless onto a pile of tarpaulins that were stacked in the far left corner of her hideaway.

She was safe – for the moment, anyway.


	14. Chapter 14

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_Meow! Meow! Meow! Meow!"_

_What the heck?_ The road worker in the helmet and overalls thought to himself as he wrestled the cover off the manhole and stared down into the depths of the drainpipe underneath him. It was 8:30 am on Sunday morning, and he would have much rather still been in bed than being called out to check the storm drains for a reported blockage after last Friday nights rainstorms. _That sounds like a cat? How the heck did it manage to get stuck down here?_

"_Here, kitty, kitty, kitty?"_ he called out loudly as he lowered himself down into the rainwater drain. "Come on! _Puss, puss, puss, puss!"_

"_Meowwwww!"_ Diana squawked out gratefully as she scampered along the pipe above the water level towards the kindly man's outstretched hand, Usagi's lost locket banging against her tiny chest as she ran. _At Last!_ She thought to herself. _I'm finally saved!_

Scooping Diana up in his hand, the man carefully climbed back up the ladder and set her down carefully on the pavement beside the manhole, before staring at her, half of his body still below ground, his feet still planted firmly on the access ladder.

"Man, you're a tiny little kitten! How on earth did you manage to get yourself down there, little fella?"

"Meow!" Diana replied gratefully, giving the man's hand a hug and a lick. Then, after one last rub, she turned and darted off down the kerb in the direction of the Hikawa shrine.

"Good luck!" the road worker called after her as he started his descent back down to below road level once again.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Rei's visit in the guise of a nurse to the National Medical Clinic in Minami-Azabu, where she had seen Makoto during her fire reading last night, had been fruitless. Makoto wasn't there after all – not now, anyway. When Rei managed to get safely back to their new base of operations in the basement of the Crown Game Center, she lost no time in informing the two waiting cats as to her findings.

After Rei had given her report on what she had managed to see, Luna and Artemis exchanged a worried look with each other and then turned back to the no less alarmed looking Rei.

"So you were told that there was an explosion in her room, and that Makoto's not at the hospital any more?" Luna asked. "Do you believe the nurse who told you that?"

"I don't know. The police and Hospital Security Guards wouldn't let me up to that floor to see for myself. But from outside, it sure looks like the window was blown, not in, but _out! _The explosion came from the inside, I'm positive of that."

"So you think…?"

"My best guess is that Mako-chan saw something outside her window, so she blew whatever it was away. Then she must have gone out the window herself and escaped from the hospital, even though she was injured."

"Then we've got to find her, and fast," Luna told them, red eyes wide with hope. "She's obviously on the run from someone or something and could be badly hurt!"

"Finding Makoto would be a lot easier if our communicators were working," Artemis said with annoyance. "That static swamping every frequency puts a real cramp on our tactics. The only scout that we can contact long range is Sailor V."

"So they're still out of commission?" Luna sighed.

"Afraid so. And the longer that they're off line, the more sure I am that they're being jammed by someone – _or something."_

"Well, we'll just have to hoof it on foot in a search pattern," Luna decided. "Makoto now knows that something is definitely up, but if she can't contact us, where would she go?"

"The Shrine?" Rei suggested.

"Her apartment?" Artemis added.

"And she was really worried about Usagi, so her house is on the list as well. I suggest that we take one each. I'll take Usagi's house, Rei, you go back to the Hikawa shrine and I'll ask Yuichiro to stay here and keep watch, just on the off-chance that Makoto comes here. Artemis, you take her apartment. We'll meet back here in two hours, if that's all right with you two?"

"Yes, that's fine, Luna," Artemis agreed. "But we'd best be very, very careful out there. We have at least two – and maybe three - separate groups of enemies on the lookout for us. Luna and I should be fine, but you'd best be extra careful, Rei…all three of these places could possibly be under yakuza surveillance by now. Luna and I don't stick out too much, but you sure do!"

"I've got it all covered, Artemis," Rei grinned, holding up her disguise pen. "_Tah-daaah! _I'm going as a fire inspector!_"_

"Good thinking," Luna praised her. "Alright, let's get going. I'll see you both in two hours time."

-:-:-:-:-:-

Almost a whole day had now passed since her kindly visitor had departed and Usagi was beginning to fret. So far nothing had happened with regards to her rescue, nothing at all.

Unfortunately the same couldn't be said with regards to her unwelcome customers – two more rich clients had visited her that day. Both had been handpicked by the manager and were pleasant enough people, though neither of the men had been as young or as good looking as her first. Luckily, both of them also had relatively normal tastes when it came to having sex. Once again, she had held back her tears of shame and forced herself to carry out their wishes and do what she had to do with them – and had hated herself for doing so, even though she knew that she had absolutely no choice in the matter. After each well-satisfied, smiling man had departed, she had surrendered to her tears once again.

_When, oh, when will my suffering end?!_

Usagi also couldn't help thinking about Minako. Had her dear friend got away safely? And if she had, would her friends be able to find her in this hidden place? And – after what she and Minako had both experienced together – what would their relationship be like when they finally saw each other again? Would they be merely close friends like before, or would it develop into... _something more?_

Her eyes wandered to the clock on the wall, she saw that it was now almost six o'clock in the evening, which meant that she would be getting fed soon. At least she had that to look forward to! At home, Usagi had been used to snacking as frequently as she wished to (at least when her mother wasn't there!) and such a long period as a whole six hours without food was almost a form of torture to the starving teen.

Then the door opened and a man whom she recognised as being one of her hated guards stepped into the room, carrying a large, heavy-looking paper bag. An exquisite aroma wafted from it, setting her mouth to watering with anticipation.

"Here's your dinner, girlie," he informed her, smiling roughly as his eyes roamed over her curvaceous shape, barely hidden underneath the diaphanous white robe. "Enjoy!" Placing the paper bag down on the floor at his feet, he reluctantly backed away and exited the room, locking the door again behind him.

"_Forty thousand yen for a half hour,"_ she heard him mutter to himself before the soundproof door had closed_. "Boy, she's worth it…! I gotta ask for a pay raise."_

Usagi had stayed frozen in place against the far wall until her guard had left, then she scooted across the floor to snatch up her welcome repast. Grabbing the dinner box out of the bag with a loud, _"Yum!!", _she licked her lips and opened it.

"Greetings, Usagi-sama," said the tiny voice of the small grey kitten inside, her delicate face with the golden crescent on her forehead smiling up at the dumbfounded looking Usagi!

"_WAAAAH?_ _Diana!"_ Usagi exclaimed in delight, recovering her jaw from the floor, blue eyes as wide as saucers. _"How did you get in there? Oh, it's so good to see you!"_ Scooping up the purring kitten, she hugged her tightly against her chest, heedless of the food stains soiling her white robe, tears of joy beginning to flow from her eyes. "I thought that I'd be locked in here alone forever and never see any of my friends ever again!"

"It wasn't too hard, Usagi-sama," Diana squeaked. "Once I knew where you were, I got into this building through a drainpipe, then hid in the kitchen until I heard someone mention your name – I knew that even if you were a prisoner, you'd still be requiring lots of food! The person was calling for another to take this dinner box to you so I managed to hide inside it while they were talking – but I had to eat most of the ramen noodles in it before I would fit." She licked her lips and added with relish, "They were delicious, by the way."

"My dinner!" Usagi wailed, then sighed in resignation. "Oh, well, I can always get some more when I get out of this horrible place. What about our friends? Have they a plan to get us out of here?"

"Actually, no," the tiny grey kitten informed her. "As far as I know, I'm the only one who even knows that you are in here, and I don't even know where the others _are._ I've been stuck down in a stormwater drain for the last two days and nights! When a city workman finally rescued me this morning, I ran back to Rei's shrine, but no one was there, not even Yuichiro or Grandpa. But there had been a fire there, some of the main complex had been burnt down and there were quite a few bullet holes in the walls."

"_Whaaat?!"_ Usagi cried out in shock. "What could have happened? Diana, we've got to get out of here, _now,_ and go find them to see if they're all right!" But then a sudden thought struck her. "But, Diana, how did you ever manage to find out where I was?"

"Back at the shrine, I intercepted a message for Rei," the kitten answered. "It was just a lucky coincidence that that the phone was still working and that I happened to hear it ringing. It was a man I didn't know, and he told me where to find you."

_My Customer! He kept his word!_ Usagi whooped silently to herself, despite her worry about what had happened to Rei and the others. _I sure hope that I get to see him again to thank him for his kindness?_

"Lucky! I didn't even know that you were missing," Diana continued. "Anyway, since I couldn't find the others, I thought that I'd better get over here to Kabukicho District straight away, even if it did mean hitching a ride on a train halfway across Tokyo. I almost got lost twice after I left Shinjuku Station, but here I am, _finally."_

At her words, Usagi's head slumped back down again. "So it's just the two of us, then? And we have no plan of escape either…!"

"Yes, we do," the tiny kitten contradicted her. "I almost forgot – I found this when I was searching for Artemis-papa on Friday night. It was laying in a pile of rubbish outside a broken window at the 'Happy Hour' bar. Have a look in the dinner box."

Usagi bent forward, then her eyes flew open with astonished delight at what she saw. At last she was saved!

"It's my transformation Locket! I've got it back at last, and it's all thanks to you, Diana-chan!"

"I had to carry it all over Tokyo with me because I haven't leant to dematerialize and rematerialize things yet, like Artemis-papa and Luna-mama can. But it wasn't too heavy."

"_Thank you, thank you, thank you!_ Come on, Diana, we're getting out of here, right now!!"

"After you, Usagi-sama," Diana deferred politely.

"_MOON CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!!" _Usagi screamed with joy!

"_What the fuck?! Something strange is happening down there in the new girl's room!"_ the man behind the banks of surveillance monitors shouted into the microphone on his headset. _"Get some men down there, right now!"_

Of course, by then it was too late…

-:-:-:-:-:-

The guard in the hallway had lasted approximately five seconds. As he had rushed towards Usagi, arms spread open wide to grab her, her sailor moon kick to his stomach had folded him over like a staple and flung him the length of the hallway into the far wall! Her hard flung tiara had taken out the reinforced doorway that led into the main part of the building, and the two yakuza unlucky enough to be barring Sailor Moon's way to the front office had been dispatched in a similar manner to that of a wrestler clothes-lining two opponents simultaneously. A third guard received an uppercut of such power that it had put his head through the ceiling, as he had dropped back down again, the angry Sailor Moon had seized him by his muscular left leg, swung him around in several, ever more rapid circles, and then thrown the hapless yakuza headlong into the closed door to the managers office! Unable to withstand such an impact, the door had caved in like an eggshell, leaving both man and door in a twisted heap on the previously spotless floor.

"_What the hell's going on out there?!"_ The manager roared out, sticking his head out through the frame of the destroyed door, and attracting Sailor Moon's immediate attention.

"_What? Sailor Moon? _Stay back, I'm warning you!" The manager quickly produced a small handgun from his right pocket and a grenade from his left, and brandished them threateningly at her as she stalked in his direction.

"I'm armed, see?" he told the now wary Usagi, whom had come to an immediate halt as soon as she saw that he was carrying lethal weapons. "Now put your hands up over your head and lie down on the floor, girl. _If you don't-?!"_ He pulled out the pin of the grenade with the thumb of his hand holding the pistol, keeping his other hand firmly holding down the lever of the explosive device to keep it from exploding prematurely. "Well, I think that you get the message, sailor girl?"

"How dare you kidnap me and force me to satisfy the urges of paying customers?! I am the Sailor Scout of Love and Justice, but – _err…ah?_ – Not _that_ kind of love!" Usagi declared, blushing a little as she struck up her pose. "But I _will_ bring you to justice! I am Sailor Moon! And in the name of the moon, I will punish you!"

"Quite the little speech," the manager declared. "I hope that you are that long winded under the sheets, because I can think of a number of customers who're going to jump at the chance of having the famous Sailor Moon in bed with them. Hmm? But what do you mean, 'kidnap you, and force you to' – _oh? I see! You're Usagi! So Usagi is Sailor Moon?! _Who would have thought it?"

_Oh, darn,_ Sailor Moon gulped to herself, mentally kicking herself in the butt for her mistake. _Me and my big mouth! Why don't I just write it on the wall outside my house so that everyone knows who I really am?!_

"Okay, down on the floor, _now!"_

"Is everything all right out there?" a second voice suddenly called out from behind him, causing the manager to instinctively turn his head to look behind him. And for Sailor Moon, that was enough!

"_Moon Tiara Action!"_

Realizing his mistake, the manager whirled back to face his incredibly cute but dangerous antagonist, but Sailor Moon had moved even faster. As the glowing tiara vaporized his pistol, she followed up her first attack with a springing sidekick! Her red booted right foot smashed into his chest, flinging him violently back through the office doorway behind him, to land with an almighty crash onto his desk. Remembering the live grenade that he had been carrying, Sailor Moon immediately dived for the hall doorway behind her, calling out an urgent warning to Diana as the kitten poked her head around the camouflaged doorframe with nervous curiosity.

"_Get back, Diana! He's got a grenad-!"_

A thunderous detonation to her rear chopped of Sailor Moon's words! The entire building shook and dust and small fragments of plaster rained down upon her pigtailed head as Usagi lay curled up into a protective ball around Diana, safely back on the floor of the hidden passageway.

"Wow, that was close, Sailor Moon-sama," Diana gasped out to her as both of them made it back to their feet again. "I think that you got him that time?"

"You said it, Diana," Sailor Moon agreed, dusting herself off. "And it couldn't have happened to a nicer person."

As she stepped carefully back into the shattered remains of the managers office, Sailor Moon only needed a quick glance in the manager's direction to see that he wasn't going to be a problem for her – or anyone else, for that matter – ever again. But, apart from the motionless body of the guard, there was a third man sprawled out on the floor in the room as well. He was laying on his side with his previously well made garments torn and blackened by the fierce blast. His face was turned away from her, but she could tell by his laborious movements that he was injured, but still alive.

After asking Diana to find a phone and call for the police and an ambulance, Sailor Moon cautiously moved forward to the injured man's side.

"Hello? I'm Sailor Moon, and I'm here to help you. How badly are you hurt?"

"_Heh,"_ the man answered, turning over onto his back on the floor to face her. "Quite badly, I'm afraid? Here, see for yourself?"

The man hadn't been lying; the piece of metal chair leg embedded deep into the front of his chest was visible proof of that, as was the splattering of blood on his lips. But it wasn't the terrible wound that caused Sailor Moon to gasp out with wide-eyed shock and her face to go a pasty white. It was the fact that she knew him!

"_Customer, Sir!!_ What are you doing back here? _Ohmygod! You've been seriously hurt…!"_

"Sailor Moon? No, I recognize that voice…Bunny-chan? _Bunny! You're Sailor Moon?!"_

"Yes," Usagi shakily admitted, dropping to the floor at his side, her slender legs now feeling so weak at the sight of his injury that she felt quite unable to stand any longer. "Please don't try to move, you've been seriously hurt! I've got help coming for you. Just lie back and rest, okay?"

"Little Bunny-chan is Sailor Moon! Well, there's a turn up for the books? But – but if you're really Sailor Moon, then how come you didn't just transform and free yourself long before this?" He coughed, and a spray of blood flew from his mouth. "It doesn't make sense…?"

Usagi opened her mouth, and then bit her lip as she tried to think of what to say to him. "I…can't tell you why. But I just couldn't, okay?"

The man managed a smile at her hesitancy, understanding the reason why. "Doesn't matter. But now that you _are_ free, I'd go out with you for a celebratory drink, but…but somehow I think that it's closing time for me, now…_for good."_

"Don't talk like that," Sailor Moon begged him. "Just lie still! But why were you back here, now? Your message saved me, you had no reason to return!"

"You think so? You…really don't know? I came back to see...to see you, dear little Bunny-chan…!"

Usagi felt her eyes begin to blur with emotion. "But why?" She choked out. "Why put yourself at risk just to see me? You saved me, you had already carried out your part of the deal?"

"Because I…_cared_ about you. I wanted to see if I…could help you more, to make sure you would be safe."

"Thank you," Sailor Moon gasped out, "_Thank you for everything!_ But you've got a foot-long chunk of metal sticking out of your chest. Please, just hold on!"

"You…don't say? I…_thought_ that there was something wrong with me…! _Hah! Ha, ha!"_ He coughed up a gob of blood. "Never mind, too late for regrets. I'm _dying,_ Bunny-chan, and I deserve it… deserve it for what…what I did to you…in that room…!"

"_No!!" _Sailor Moon screamed out in denial, cradling his head in her arms, seeing that he was growing noticeably weaker by the second._ "Don't die! It wasn't your fault! We had no choice! We had no choice!"_

"Yeah…well, Bunny-chan…I'm still sorry, I'm so sorry for what I did to you…! _Forgive me…?"_

"I forgive you, I do! Just hang in there and breathe, help will be here soon. Don't die on me! Kami-sama, I don't even know your name…!"

Her customer coughed again, and the spray of blood from his mouth became a trickle. "You're a good girl, Bunny-chan. Wish I'd known you before…before this happened?" He managed a weak smile as her tears flowed unashamedly down her cheeks to splash down upon his face. "You want…my name? You…should…know, now, anyway? My...name…is-_oh! Bunny! I - gggahhh!"_ Before Usagi's horrified gaze, the kind man's breath choked out one final time. His body jerked once, twice, then his head rolled limply in her frantic grasp and his eyes began to glaze over as he began his final rest.

"_Oh, no, no, no, don't die on me, no don't, please…?! You were so kind to me, and…and…I didn't even know your name…!"_

"Sailor Moon-sama?" Diana's soft voice spoke to her gently through her tears of grief. "I found a phone and the police and an ambulance are on their way here right now… The other girls are safe too; I found the master door lock control and released them from their rooms. Come on, we have to go before the police get here."

"Thank you, Diana," Usagi sniffed, lowering the head of her benefactor gently down onto the wooden floor. She bent forward and kissed his pale cheek. "Goodbye, Customer, Sir. And thank you for my life. I'll never, ever forget you and your kindness."

Sailor Moon arose back to her feet, scooped up Diana and ran out through the shattered doorway towards their freedom.

-:-:-:-:-:-

At about this time, in the back of a truck parked up in a shipping depot in Chuo-ku, Sailor V was just beginning to stir. She had been knocked unconscious by her fall from the pedestrian overbridge for a full sixteen hours, and had lain unnoticed in the back of the now parked up truck for all of that time. The sun was just beginning to set again below the skyline of the city, casting lengthening shadows across her place of refuge.

Sailor V rolled over onto her side and rubbed at the back of her throbbing head, momentarily confused as to why she was laying there on this hard, canvas covered metal surface, out under the open, steadily darkening sky, nursing a splitting headache. Then, as the shocking events of last night burst back into her memory, she leapt back up onto her feet in a single bound, frightened eyes darting in all directions, frantically seeking the no-doubt rapidly approaching legions of yakuza enemies from last night.

But of the persistent yakuza, nothing could be seen. However, things were anything but quiet and still, for all around her arose the clamour of people talking and shouting, the roar of traffic from the nearby roads – all except one, which for some obscure reason was closed to motor traffic - and the whining and clanging of machinery from the nearby workshops. Ducking back down again behind the cover of the truck's tray before any curious, prying eyes could notice her, Sailor V realised with an overwhelming sense of relief that her involuntary fall had been a blessing as well as a curse. The truck that she had fallen into had driven her unnoticed from out of the encircling arms of the yakuza to a place of momentary safety.

But what to do, now? At the moment, Sailor V had no idea as to where she even was; let alone how to make it back to the Hikawa Shrine. She then tried using her Crescent compact communicator to contact Artemis or Luna back at the shrine, but this time only the unbroken sound of static greeted her ears.

_Nothing. So I'm obviously out of range of the shrine again. Damn it! And I don't even know where I am…?_

Coming to a decision, Sailor V quickly transformed back into Minako Aino. The yakuza were out looking for Sailor V, and the female crime fighter in her distinctive sailor suit was a far more visible target that the casually dressed Minako was. She knew that she would still attract a certain degree of attention even as Minako Aino because of her long blonde hair and her extreme good looks, but nothing to untoward should happen to her on a busy street like that one in front of her, especially as it wasn't quite dark yet. In her civilian identity, Minako hoped that she could just stroll out of the trucking company's parking lot, down the road, and ask the first person that she met as to exactly where she now was. Once she knew that important fact, Minako figured that it would be easy enough to make it back to the Hikawa Shrine on a bus. At least she still had enough money left for a fare – _she hoped._

Minako's hastily thought up plan worked well – at first. After swinging herself down from the tray of the big truck, the cautious blonde girl then made it back out onto the street that was closed to motor traffic outside the parking lot easily enough. Upon asking a bookstall attendant for directions, she then learnt that she was in Ginza, in Chuo-ku ward.

_So I'm not too far away from Juuban? Lucky! The way that my luck has been going recently, I guess that I'm fortunate not to have ended up in Hokkaido!_

That also explained why this particular road today was closed to vehicles. Sunday in Ginza was 'Pedestrians Paradise' day, and this main street, Chuo-dori, was for pedestrians only. Blending in with the colorful crowd of shoppers on the sidewalk, Minako then walked at a brisk pace along through the bustling shopping centre until she reached the first bus stop on a nearby side street. After a quick check of the schedule, she learnt to her disappointment that the bus she wanted to take had departed only a couple of minutes before her arrival there, and the next one wasn't due for another half an hour.

"Darn! My luck just isn't with me, today. But at least my sore head is starting to feel a little better, so at least that's something, I guess…?"

Swallowing her disappointment, Minako then decided that she might as well grab a bite to eat and find a women's room while she was waiting for her ride. After first locating and using the aforementioned facilities, the hungry teenager then wandered into a small café and ordered a Melon pan and a coke. Minako loved the delicious, honey melon flavoured, round buns – even more so since she hadn't eaten or drank anything at all since she had been held prisoner in the upstairs room of the 'Happy Hour' bar last Friday night.

After she had finished her refreshing meal, Minako asked the owners very politely if she could use their phone. Upon receiving their permission, she then put in a call to the Hikawa shrine, but to her dismay, no one was answering, not even Yuichiro. And that made her very worried. Something must have happened back there in her absence, but what?

_I can't stay here in Ginza any longer, I have to get back to Juuban and find my friends…! Oh, Kami-sama, I hope that nothing bad has happened to them while I've been out for the count?_

After thanking the shop owners again for their curtesy, Minako hurried back out onto the street, intending to return straight to the bus stop and catch her ride. So worried was she by what could have happened at the Hikawa shrine during her enforced absence, the preoccupied Minako accidentally walked directly into a pair of big men as she and they turned the corner of the side street simultaneously, from different directions! Bouncing off the burly, tattooed strangers, Minako looked up at them with contrition and started to offer an apology, only to freeze in her tracks, her mouth frozen half open with shock. Standing there, right in front of her, was two of the yakuza from the 'Happy Hour' bar, both of whom had taken a turn with her in the upstairs room last Friday night!

"I'm sorry, Sirs, I-! _Oh, no?!"_

"Just watch where you're going next time, sexy, or – _hey! _I know you?!_ Look, Naoto-san, its Minako! We've found her!"_

"Quick, grab her, Yuuta-san! Don't let her escape!"

_Oh, crap!_ Minako screamed silently to herself, leaping backwards and starting to run back the way that she had come. Whipping out her Crescent compact again, she hurriedly transformed back once more into Sailor V as she dodged back and forth through the now scattering throng of confused and startled pedestrians. _What are the odds…!?_

"_She's getting away!"_

"_Get on the radio and call up the other search teams, Naoto-san! You were right after all when you said that you thought you saw her fall into that truck with 'Ginza Transport Company' written on it! We'll catch her this time!"_

_So I'm not going home just yet, am I?_ Sailor V told herself bitterly, leaping through an open window and then starting up a winding flight of stairs towards the rooftop. _Damn! Damn! Damn!_


	15. Chapter 15

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

About an hour after Usagi and Diana had made their escape, at their new hidden base of operations in the secret room at the Crown Game Center, Rei, Artemis and Luna were sitting down for an impromptu council of war. Yuichiro was still there, too, but he had once again volunteered to keep watch upstairs for safety's sake.

The trio's search for Makoto that day had been fruitless. Her apartment and the Hikawa shrine had been empty; Luna's visit back to Usagi's parents house had been equally futile.

Rei had made it safely both to and back from the remains of the Hikawa shrine without any problems at all. Her disguise as a fire inspector had worked to perfection, and it had also allowed her the unrestricted freedom of the place from both the police and the fire department. And what she saw of the damage – while not as bad as she had worried that it might have been – still set her teeth on edge. At least her room and most of the living and storage quarters had come through the gun battle and fire relatively undamaged – if one discounted the scattering of bullet holes in the walls and the odd broken window, that is…! Nor did there seem to be too much smoke damage either, and in the living quarters none at all, which was at least a small blessing.

If it had been safe to do so, Rei had been of a mind to try reading the sacred flame again to see if she could find out more about the locations of Mako-chan, Bunny-chan, Sailor V and Diana. But – in a supreme stroke of irony – despite the fiery conflagration on the premises last night – somehow the sacred flame had gone out! The soaking wet floor and walls suggested to her the very probable culprits – some overeager firemen were to blame, no doubt, for its extinguishment. _Those Baka…!_

Despite these setbacks, ever thoughtful about the future, Rei had made the most of her trip back to her badly damaged home. When the unhappy girl was sure that she had been alone in the living quarters, she taken the time to quickly gather up her favorite clothes, her documents, money, jewellery and all of her most prized possessions such as precious photographs and mementoes that she could easily fit into her three suitcases. Her weapons were also safely packed away in their cases as well. Regretfully, she decided that she couldn't take her large collection of manga with her at that time, so she boxed the valuable book collection up and placed them carefully in one of the stronger, undamaged storage rooms, locking the door carefully behind her as she had departed.

After these tasks had been completed, Rei had called a taxi to collect her from a nearby side street in half an hour's time. Then, after smuggling her three suitcases and her weapon cases down the wooded bank well away from the stone steps, without the police guards at the shrine noticing her actions, she managed to get them and herself delivered safely by the taxi back to the Crown Game Center. Once there, the faithful Yuichiro had quickly given her a hand to stash her salvaged possessions downstairs in her temporary room.

Rei's two pet ravens, Phobos and Deimos, had still been at the ruins of the Hikawa shrine upon her arrival. They had swooped down to her, calling out a raucous greeting when Rei had first showed up there, recognising her despite her disguise. Even though she had been in a hurry, Rei had brightened up a bit at finding out that her two guardian birds were still safe and she had taken the time to pat the big black birds and feed them a bowl of rice, before secretly packing her belongings under the unsuspecting noses of the other, genuine officials on site. The two huge ravens seemed to sense that she was leaving – maybe for good - and they made it clear to the unhappy girl, as only the two birds could, that they would stay behind to look after what was left of the shrine until it was safe for her to return and live there once more.

Once Rei Hino and her possessions were back safely in her room under the Crown Game Center, she had relieved Yuichiro of his guard duty. Since it was now reasonably safe for him do so, her boyfriend had himself departed for the Hikawa shrine, transformed by the disguise pen into a very realistic looking Insurance Assessor, to gather up his own few possessions for removal back to their new hiding place.

Upon Yuichiro's departure, Rei settled down to wait for Artemis and Luna to come back. But upon their return, she found out to her disappointment that neither of the two despondent cats had managed to come up with any further information on what exactly had happened to Makoto, Usagi or Diana. And just to cap off the bad day, Sailor V hadn't been heard from since her last call the previous night, either. All of Artemis's subsequent attempts to contact her had met with only the sullen hiss of static.

Worried as he was by the fate of his friends, Artemis knew that he had other fish to fry right then and there – adversaries that would be even more dangerous than the yakuza – or even the youma – to deal with. So, once Yuichiro had returned safely and unnoticed from the shrine with his possessions, and everybody had been comfortably seated around a downstairs table, he started the ball rolling by asking Rei to relate to them all that she knew about the demons that she had seen through her meditations in front of the sacred fire back at the abandoned Hikawa shrine.

"Grandpa taught me a fair bit about Demons, because the Shinto Priests have been combating them for thousands of years," Rei told them soberly. "We sometimes call them '_Oni,'_ or Ogres. They come from an alternate dimension and sometimes manage to break through into our world where the fabric between the different worlds has been damaged, or pierced by magic. Sometimes, during our meditations in front of the temple fire, we can see through these portals into the demon world, but only if there is one open nearby – like there was when I saw…when I saw what happened to poor Ami-chan."

At the sight of her distress, Artemis gave her a moment to recover and wipe the tears from her eyes before asking his next question.

"Okay. Now, how many of them are there at a guess, and why are they coming here to our dimension? Do you know?"

"Ye-yes," Rei sniffed, squaring her shoulders and clearing the lump from her throat. "I saw no more than six or seven of them, I think? _'Oni'_ Demons usually come here for food, and sometimes conquest for prisoners, but that second reason is nearly always related to – to securing their food supply as well. Most of the edible prey on the demon world is huge and incredibly dangerous to hunt, even for them. Because of that reason, there aren't very many demons even on their home world – more often than not, their fierce prey manages to catch and eat them! That is why the demons are nearly always hungry, and why they are always trying to break through the dimensional barrier into our world. Here there is a plentiful supply of easy prey for them to eat, you see…?" Her voice faded again as the smiling face of her lost friend rose before her teary eyes once more.

"If we are going to be fighting them, I think that it'd be best if you could tell us a little more about their physical capabilities, Rei?" Luna requested quietly.

"Most of the _'Oni'_ demons are nearly seven feet tall, with horns on their heads, have black, armored skin that is nearly impenetrable, and excellent night-vision. They can spit blue plasma fireballs, are incredibly strong, and can both fly and leap great distances. But their strangest ability is that they can hide their physical form in the shadows of their surroundings. They could be watching you at night and you'd never even know that they were there."

The others shivered at her description.

"Sounds like they'd be a real hit as assassins," Artemis remarked, his heart sinking at the formidable capabilities of their enemy. "As if the youma weren't bad enough on their own…!"

"And that's another thing that has been puzzling me. Just why would the youma ally themselves with the demons?" Luna wanted to know. "They must have some good reason for it, apart from just destroying us?"

"I think that I may have a few ideas on that, Luna," Artemis said, thinking hard. "Remember, the youma subsist on bio-energy sucked from people, the demons eat their physical bodies. The youma are most active with their energy feeding during the day, while the demons do their hunting at night. They could both share the earth together without any conflict between them at all."

"So what you're saying is that they're actually complimentary predators?" Luna gasped, eyes lighting up with understanding. "Neither one stepping on the others toes, so they are perfectly capable of sharing the population of earth between them?"

"Yes, and since there's more people than either race could ever possibly use, that would not be a source of conflict between them, either. The demons would gain access to an inexhaustible new food source to exploit, and the youma would benefit both from our destruction and allies against any human effort to combat them. Yes, it all fits!"

"But where do the yakuza fit into all of this, then?" Rei asked in puzzlement. "They may be criminals, but surely they wouldn't go along with anything as terrible as this!"

"I don't think that they are a part of it, Rei," Artemis guessed. "Unless they are being unknowingly manipulated into helping the youma and the demons achieve their plans. The yakuza code of honor would never allow them to ally with otherworldly demons and evil spirits against their fellow human beings!"

Just then there came an interruption, but this time a most welcome one. The door opened and Yuichiro walked into the room, his mouth wide open in a huge smile.

"Hey, guys? Guess who's coming to dinner?"

"_What the-?_ What are you so happy about, Yuichiro-kun?" Rei burst out in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Usagi-chan and Diana have just rolled up," he told them gleefully, jerking a thumb back over his shoulder. "They'll be down here in a second or two. Yay! Some good news at last!"

"_Usagi? Diana?"_ The wide-eyed trio burst out in astonished delight, staring at the tall, shaggy shrine worker standing there grinning at them.

"But how did they know that we were hiding here?" Luna breathed out, her voice a mixture of surprise and overwhelming relief that her daughter and her Moon Princess charge were safely back with them once again.

"They didn't," Yuichiro answered, still smiling. "I spotted them both on the street as they were going past towards the shrine, and managed to attract their attention."

"Good work, Yuichiro-kun," Rei praised him, giving him a look of promise that momentarily made his knees weak. "I owe you _big_ for this one!"

"No-sweat, Babe."

"Bunny-chan's back! And Diana, too!" Rei cried out, clapping her hands together with joy, jumping up off her seat as Luna and Artemis embraced each other, no less relieved that their diminutive kitten had made it back to them safely. "It's about time that we got a break!"

"You said it, Rei," Artemis agreed. "After losing the others, this is a godsend!"

"Ah, yes, that reminds me." Luna jumped up onto the headrest behind Rei's seat to whisper into her ear.

"Rei? Usagi doesn't need to know exactly _how_ Ami and Mamoru died. Believe me, it's for the best."

"Yes, Luna. You're right…" Despite her happiness, Rei shuddered as she thought back to the horror that she had seen during her reading of the sacred flame.

At that very second, Usagi appeared behind Yuichiro's hulking frame, her slender body seeming frail by comparison. Diana was perched on Usagi's head, eyes wide and with a smile that rivalled Yuichiro's on her tiny face.

"_Hello, everyone,"_ Usagi called out, her blue eyes abruptly filling with tears, such was the intensity of her emotions at seeing her beloved friends again. "I don't know why you're all here, but, boy, am I glad to see you again!"

"_Welcome back, Bunny-chan! Diana!"_

Once the welcome back hugs had been concluded, everyone took their seats again to resume their interrupted planning session. After filling Usagi and Diana in on what had been happening in their absence – eliminating several graphic details with regards to Mamoru and Ami's fate – another few minutes were spent with hugging and calming the inconsolable Usagi, and Diana, who was caterwauling just as loudly. Rei held Usagi gently in her arms until the distraught girl had cried it all out – they may have normally argued a lot, but they were still best friends after all. After Usagi had settled down somewhat, slumped forward in her seat with her hands over her still streaming eyes and Rei had wiped away her own tears of sorrow, anger and regret, Artemis called the meeting to order once again.

"We all regret Ami-chan's and Tuxedo-Kamen's loss, and we'll have time to mourn them properly later, Usagi, Diana," Luna sniffed, releasing her tearful daughter from her embrace. "But right now we need to make plans about how to beat the demons' responsible and avenge their deaths."

"Yes, that's right," Usagi snuffled. "I'm sorry… I'll be all right in a minute, guys. Don't let me distract you."

"Me, too," Diana added, with a loud sneeze and a shake of her small head.

"_Brave girls,"_ Luna told them. "Artemis-?"

"Hold on, everyone?" Usagi interrupted. "Sorry, Luna, but I've just noticed that someone else is missing in here. Where's Minako-chan?''

At Luna's sharp intake of breath, Usagi immediately knew that something was wrong. _"Oh, no!_ What's happened to her, you guys? They haven't-? _No! Not Minako-chan, too!?"_

"There's no need to panic, Bunny-chan," Rei cut in before Luna could speak. "We're sure that she's okay. She was in contact with us before, and she told us that she was leading a large group of yakuza away from the shrine, and that she was going to double back and rejoin us here when she could. Minako-chan will be fine!"

"What Rei said is true, Usagi," Luna confirmed, or rather, she _hoped_ that it was true. "Minako is Sailor V, remember? She's very competent and is used to fighting criminals on the streets. I'm quite sure that you're worried about nothing?"

"Oh? Okay?" Usagi sighed, relief washing through her at the confident words of her friends. Her dear friend would make it back to them, to _her_, without any problem, she was sure of it. "Sorry, Artemis, carry on. That was my only question."

"I have a question, too," Diana squeaked, also looking around the room and missing a friend. "Where has Chibiusa-chan gone?"

"She went safety back to Crystal Tokyo in the Thirtieth Century," Luna told her firmly. "Where you should have gone, too, if you hadn't run away looking for Artemis!"

"But I've proved that I can help out here," the Kitten appealed. "I found Sailor Moon-sama and helped her to escape, remember?"

Luna sighed with resignation. "That you did, Diana. I hate to admit it, but you did do a good job. Well done. And it is, after all, too late to send you there now that Chibiusa has already left with the Time Key, so you have to stay here now anyway."

"Thank you, Luna-mama," Diana sighed out in a relieved tone. "I promise that I'll be on my best behaviour from now on."

"Good girl. See that you do. All right, if no one else has any further questions, it's back to you, Artemis…?"

"Okay. Back to the subject of the demons. How did they get here this time, Rei, if they come from another dimension? There must be a portal or rift they used somewhere near here. Did you see how they managed it?"

"I got a flash of six large, oval stones, about seven feet tall, arranged in a circle," Rei said slowly, right hand at her forehead and thinking hard. "It was in a wooded area. Inside the first circle, there was a smaller circle of five smaller flat-topped stones about three feet high arranged around a bigger flat stone like a table, I think…?"

"So that's how the demons got into our world," Luna exclaimed, Rei's recollection having stirred her own excellent memory. "It was through that ancient stone circle from England that was set up in Arisugawa Park. The Fools! They should have known better than to bring something like that over here without having it checked out by the Shinto priests first!"

"We owe them _big time_ for what they did to Ami-chan and Tuxedo Kamen," Rei growled out, starting to rise up from her seat. "Let's go, guys, and toast some demon butt!"

"No, it's too risky for us to be on the streets during the daytime," Artemis decided firmly. "We might get spotted by the yakuza. It'd be best if we go out after dark and wait for the demons at the stone circle tonight."

"And after we've dealt with them, we then have to destroy those stones to cut off the portal from our world to theirs," Luna added. "That way, we won't have any more trouble from more of their unsavoury ilk finding their way through to plague our city."

"Luna's right, and that second task will be the easiest for us to accomplish. The first will be much harder to pull off, especially since we're down to less than half our fighting strength. We don't dare battle them openly, now – too many things could go wrong." Artemis looked around the little circle and fixed his eyes on Rei, who was looking thoughtfully at her bag. "Rei, you're the Shinto _Miko_ here. Any ideas?"

"Actually, yes," Rei declared, looking thoughtful. "Demons have a big weakness that isn't very widely known - the fact that they are very curious, and can also be easy to fool. We need to get them all together in one spot, frozen in place, to be sure of eliminating them all simultaneously. And I think that I've thought up a way to do just that."

"_How?"_ Luna asked.

"First of all, I'll need a pen, a lemon, some paper, and some envelopes…"

-:-:-:-:-:-

"One other thing, Usagi, before we go," Artemis mentioned to the blue-eyed sailor scout, her eyes now red from tears, after the strategy meeting had been concluded. "I was listening to the news earlier on today, and I found out that the Juuban police are on the lookout for you. They're also trying to find Ami and Minako, too. Your folks have all reported you missing under suspicious circumstances and so there's a missing persons warrant out for all three of you."

"_My folks!"_ Usagi gasped out, her eyes lighting up with worry. "I'd best phone them right now and let them know that I'm all right!"

"Go do it now, Usagi," Luna urged her. "But, just remember that it'd be best not to get them too involved with what's going on at the moment, and we certainly don't want the police to get involved, either – not at this point, anyway…!"

"So what do I tell them?" Usagi asked in confusion, her mind still nearly paralysed with shock and grief at what she had just been told about the fate of her friend and her lover, and her worry at what her parents were going through with her having mysteriously vanished, without explanation, from her bedroom in the middle of last night.

"A little white lie would be best," Luna suggested, despite her usual aversion to such deceitful tactics. "Let them know that Minako and Ami are with you and Makoto and Rei. Tell them that all five of you won some free tickets to a rock concert, or some such, and that you have all gone on a train trip out of town to see it in Osaka, or some place like that. Try to do all of the talking, sound excited, and don't answer any awkward questions. We need them to think that you are just being irresponsible as usual – not in deep trouble, okay? Suggest to them that the police call off their missing persons search, and also that they phone Ami's mother and Minako's parents to pass on your news as to where you all are. Then hang up the phone as soon as you can."

"Luna's idea is for the best, Usagi," Artemis agreed. "At least they won't be worrying unnecessarily about you after they hear that you and the others are safe. They'll just think that you lot are only up to your usual tricks."

"I guess that you're right, Luna, Artemis," Usagi sighed. "I'll probably get grounded for a year after doing this when I finally get back home, but you're right – it is for the best… Okay, I'll go and do it now…"

_They're forgetting something, though,_ Usagi told herself unhappily as she picked up the phone behind the desk in the Crown Game Center's reception area. _Poor Mamo-kun was an orphan, so he has no parents to miss him, just us. Minako-chan and I may survive this and go back home to face the music, but Ami-chan never will…! Her poor mother will never, ever see her again…and will never, ever even know what happened to her, either. I'd rather die than suffer her fate of long, sleepless nights waiting beside her phone, praying for a call that will never come…!_

Usagi's crystal blue eyes filled once again with anguished tears.

-:-:-:-:-:-

That night, Arisugawa Park was silent and still. Despite the necklaces of streetlights ringing the surrounding areas, the clearing amongst the huge mature trees that held the prehistoric ring of relocated standing stones was blanketed by deep shadow – it had been deliberately designed that way to highlight the feeling of ancient mystery at the site to any casual passers-by. A single white electric light, set under reinforced glass in the ground inside the stone circle, glowed dimly, casting giant shadows from the monolithic standing stones across the lawn, to merge into the blackness around and under the surrounding trees.

From their hiding place beneath the exposed roots of a mature, moss-covered oak tree that overlooked the enigmatic ring, Diana was the first to notice that their trap was about to be sprung.

"Look, everyone! The standing stones are glowing!"

"They're coming through, all right," Artemis stated from his position beside her. "I just hope that Rei knows what she's doing, or things could get real sticky around here."

At the sight of the stone circle pulsing into luminous life, Sailor Moon gulped, ducked hurriedly back down behind the clump of dense bushes that she was hiding behind, and glanced nervously across at Luna. Catching her worried look, her cat sought to give her some last minute reassurance.

"I know that you've been through a lot, Usagi, but I – _we_ – need for you to be brave for just a little while longer, okay? You've never seen a demon before, I know, but you must try not to freak when they appear. Rei's plan is sound, and it should work if you remember to stay hidden and only appear on Sailor Mars's call."

"I know, Luna," Sailor Moon replied, steeling her nerve. "I won't let you all down."

"And Usagi?"

"Yes?"

"We have to get them all, right at the start. If even a single _'Oni'_ gets away, it could hunt us down one by one, striking out of the shadows when we least expect it. We have no margin of error with this one; so when you appear, don't hesitate. No 'Champion of Justice' speeches, no nothing! When Sailor Mars calls out your name, just point and shoot, okay?"

Sailor Moon gulped again. "Okay…!"

The brightly luminous standing stones were now joined, each one to every other, by shafts of pure white light, forming the shape of a radiant hexagram. And at its centre, five massive black shapes were forming out of the shimmering air! Then the weird light snapped off as if a switch had been thrown, leaving the quintet of hideous, leathery-skinned, black giants to nod their horned heads in satisfaction at each other and at their surroundings.

"We are on the Planet Earth again," One of the monsters declared happily. _"Dinner time!"_

"Take your seats," their leader told them. "We have much to do before we can claim total victory over this planet's remaining defenders and enjoy the tasty fruits of victory."

As the five demons took their seats, one on each of the granite slabs surrounding the massive altar stone, the demon on the left suddenly reached down with a clawed hand and lifted a white rectangle of stiff paper up from the stony surface underneath him.

"What is this thing here?" He asked, scrutinising it carefully. "It was on my seat."

"I have found one, too. It is an envelope that the humans use for posting messages to each other."

"We all seem to have one," a third demon bespoke, waving his own just-discovered envelope at their leader.

"But why are they here?" asked the fourth in a baffled tone, holding his one up to his armoured eye with curiosity.

"It is irrelevant," Azuriel snapped out, staring in annoyance at his own envelope that he was holding between two of his fingers. "One of you light us a fire, I'll go out and have a quick look around to see who or what's in our vicinity. Shabal, you go and catch us some tasty human dinner! While it's cooking, we'll shadow-walk into the yakuza prisons of the remaining de-powered sailor scouts, and the injured one in the hospital that Zephyr the youma told us about. Their agonized death screams will have sharpened our appetites nicely for our cooked repast when we get back afterwards, don't you all think?"

"Need a match?" Sailor Mars called out to them sarcastically, stepping out from her cover and walking forward into the pool of radiance cast from the single ground light. _"Well, here I am!"_

"_What?"_

"_A Sailor Scout!!"_

"I am Sailor Mars!" She told them, fury in her eyes. "And I am here to kick the crap out of you in the name of the Planet Mars!"

Azuriel threw back his massive horned head and laughed. "Yes, we know of you, Rei Hino," he cackled. "Do you think that you can take us all by yourself? Know you not that your pathetic friends are all captured, or dead – _or eaten?_ Now you are all alone, and alone you shall die tonight – _eventually."_

"_Blah, blah, blah!_ Get to the point, you oversized goat-headed windbag! And you are all going to pay for what you did to Ami-chan and Mamoru-kun!"

"Very well. You shall not escape from us, Rei Hino. We will stalk you tonight, both in the physical world around you and in your mind until you are a gibbering wreck, insane through fear. Only then will we take you away for a…_celebratory banquet."_

"No you won't. Your collective scaly asses are mine. Do you see those envelopes that you picked up?"

"Huh! What of them?"

"Open them."

Glancing with puzzlement at her and at each other, all five demons did as they were bid, only to frown again as they read the single visible English word written on the sheet of paper inside each envelope.

"Huh? What be the meaning of the word_, 'Sucker'?"_

_"Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan!"_ Rei yelled out triumphantly!

At her hastily chanted incantation, each sheet of paper flew up and affixed itself firmly to the forehead of the demon that was holding it. Instantly the kanji written in invisible lemon juice on the reverse sides of the _ofuda _sheet did its work! As the sudden spell took effect, all five demons were instantly frozen in their place like grotesque statues, unable to move, or even to talk!

"_Got you!"_ Rei shouted with glee. _"Suckers!! Now, Sailor Moon!"_

"Sailor Moon?" Azuriel managed to force out of his straining mouth with a supreme effort. "But she's supposed to be-? _Graaaahh!"_

"_Moon Spiral Heart Attack!"_

"_Burning Mandala!"_

And that was that.

"_Well done, girls,"_ Luna beamed proudly, jumping out of the shadows underneath her leafy hiding place to stare with smug satisfaction at the five rapidly vanishing piles of crumbling grey ash where the demons had sat only seconds before. "I can't believe that they fell for that trick so easily, but it sure beats having to do it the hard way."

"_Very_ well done," Artemis added, quickly joining her with Diana in tow. "Chalk up a victory for the Home Team! Now don't forget to blow those standing stones!"

"Got it," Sailor Moon confirmed, turning the power of her Moon Sceptre onto the rugged granite monoliths. Soon they, too, were just a pile of shattered stone shards littering the grass.

"Good work," the white cat nodded in satisfaction at her efforts. "Okay, Let's get back to the Crown. Now that we've avenged Ami and Tuxedo Kamen, it's time to plan some payback against the yakuza that started all of this. I have already researched and drawn up a list of valuable targets of opportunity for us to take out, if and when we have to."

"Good idea, Artemis," Rei said, looking uneasily around at their surroundings. "I can feel a sudden chill in the air. We'd best get moving, I think…?"

Far above the victorious quintet, a black shadow momentarily flittered on the gnarled trunk of an overhanging oak tree. A pair of gleaming red eyes glowed with barely restrained hatred for a split second, and then vanished again into the gloom.


	16. Chapter 16

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_Artemis, Luna? Come in, please?"_ Sailor V called out frantically into her Crescent compact. Once again, she had managed to temporarily shake her pursuers, this time by leaping from a pedestrian overbridge onto the roof of a passing bus. Luckily for her, she noticed from the road signs that were flashing past her on both sides of the street, that the bus was heading down the main highway in the general direction of Juuban. This wasn't quite the way that she had envisioned herself coming back home, but it was sure better than trying to make it back on foot, with yakuza bullets whistling around her ears!

"_There's Minako, again!"_ Luna called out urgently to the napping Artemis from her perch on the table in the planning room at the Crown Game Center. To try to maintain themselves in as peak a condition as they possibly could, both cats were alternating their shifts on watch with rest periods, one awake and the other asleep. "Her communicator must be back in range of us? _Hello, Sailor V? Can you hear me?"_

"_Luna! Boy, am I glad to hear your voice?_ I'm in a bit of trouble, here…!"

"Tell us where you are, and we'll send help," Luna declared. "Artemis, we need your map, A.S.A.P!"

"I'm on the top of a bus, on a main road from Ginza into Juuban, but I don't know which one," Sailor V loudly admitted, ducking down to avoid the worst of the fast moving current of freezing wind caused by the speed of the bus roaring down the brightly lit highway through the cold, night air. "But I can see the Tokyo Tower clearly from my position, it is off to my front right. I can also see a number of cars following me, but I don't know how many of them are packed with yakuza. All I _do_ know is that they're definitely still after me!"

"Ah, _roger that,"_ Artemis interrupted, staring with interest at his just rematerialized large scale Tokyo city map. "Minako, can you see any signs coming up in front of you as to where the next bus stop is?"

"No, not at the – _wait!_ Yes, here's one, now…! It says that I'm on the Expressway Loop Line, and Shiba Park will soon be coming up on my right hand side. And there's a station coming up in about five minutes time on my left. I'd best get off there – the yakuza are sure to have most of their men waiting for me at the Juuban station, so I have to get off before then."

"Can you make it back to the Crown Game Center from there?"

"Yes, I know where I am, now. But the Crown Game Center? Why are you all there, and not at the Hikawa shrine?"

"Because the shrine was attacked and destroyed, that's why," Luna answered her, in a grim tone. "Our new hideout is in the basement rooms at the Game Center."

"_The Shrine's been destroyed?! Oh, no!_ Is – is everyone all right?" Sailor V yelled out in alarm into her compact, flattening herself down on her stomach on the vibrating bus roof so that she would attract less attention to herself, and also to minimise the fierce wind that was whipping her long, golden hair back behind her like a plume of silken threads.

"Yes, we're fine. And Sailor V, we've got both Usagi and Diana back! They made it safely here earlier on today, and they're both fine, too."

"_Really? That's great news, Luna!"_ Minako whooped out with glee. "Tell them both that I'm fine, and that I'll be seeing them real soon, okay?" _Oh, Bunny-chan, thank god that you're all right…! _She added silently to herself, her heartbeat now thumping with elation.

"We'll do that, Sailor V," Luna promised. "Now, is there anything more that we can do to help you?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. My station will be coming up in a few minutes time, so if you could manage a big distraction to pull some of the yakuza away from the bus station where they're sure to be waiting for me, that'll be a big help, guys?!"

Artemis grinned. "I've already thought of that, Minako. Usagi and Diana are having a well needed and earned sleep in the next room, but Sailor Mars and Yuichiro are already on location at a big, fat, juicy yakuza target that I pinpointed earlier on. Just give me a minute to contact them, and we'll thin out the opposition for you in no time!"

"Thanks, Artemis! Do it right now, okay? There's only about two kilometers until my stop! And tell Bunny-chan and Diana, too, that I said _'Hi'!"_

"Okay, we'll put the plan into action right now. And we'll tell Bunny-chan and Diana what you said when they wake up. Good luck, Sailor V!"

"_Good luck!"_ Luna added cheerfully.

"_Bye, Guys!"_

The second that Sailor V had signed off, Artemis ran to the portable telephone that he had relocated into this room and put in a call to the phone booth that Sailor Mars and Yuichiro were staked out next to, in the industrial area of Juuban.

"I've got it," Sailor Mars called out as she grabbed the phone on its second ring. "'Fire One' and 'Two', here? Is that you, 'White One'?"

"It's me," Artemis answered, pleased that Sailor Mars had remembered to use the code words in case the phone line had somehow been tapped. It never hurt to be _too_ cautious! "Listen 'Fire One'. 'Red One' is on her way in. 'Operation Smoke' is a go. Repeat, 'Operation Smoke' is go!"

"Gotcha, 'White One'. We're on to it, right now."

"Listen you two. Be _very_ careful out there," Artemis cautioned them. "Just remember, Planet Power won't protect you against a bullet – not if it's a sufficiently large calibre one, that is. Stay low until you get into position, then hit and run! If you can't manage to destroy target 'Smoke One', then move to the next target and draw as many of their forces away from 'Red One' as you can. If we manage to cause them enough damage, there's still a chance that the yakuza _Shateigashira_ will call a truce with us and negotiate, okay?"

"Yeah, got it. You're the boss, man," Yuichiro agreed, shouldering the Bazooka. "Oops, I mean _'cat'. _Sorry,_ 'White One'...!"_

"Right, let's roll," Sailor Mars told him. "'White One', 'Black One', since we can't communicate with you once we leave this phone booth, if you wanna find us just look for the explosions, okay? Bye!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

As the bus that she was riding on top of swung out of the moving ribbons of yellow and red vehicle lights on the lamp fringed concrete highway, into the lane leading to the starkly illuminated bus station, Sailor V braced herself to run again. Judging her moment to perfection, she leapt off the moving roof, clean over the top of the chain-link fence to her left, and down onto the shadow-dappled grass bank beyond. She rolled several times from her momentum, and then sprinted for the cover of a nearby row of roadside bushes.

"_There she goes!"_ A hidden voice cried out from somewhere off to her left! "Sailor V's heading towards the subway station!"

"_Damn! She's moving too fast for me to get a bead on her!"_ a second, distant voice complained. "Quick, get after her! Don't let her reach the shopping centre!"

Straining every muscle to reach the comparative safety of the crowded shopping mall that was tantalizingly close in front of her, the racing Sailor V clearly registered the sound of car engines revving up in a car parking area off to her left and then moving quickly along the road that ran parallel to her line of flight.

"_Oh Boy!" _She panted out with frustration to herself._ "Here we go again…! _I hope that Sailor Mars and Yuichiro-san have a decent size diversion ready for me, or I'm sunk!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

At that very minute, both of her aforementioned friends were hiding in a small park only about a hundred metres away from their intended target. Both were also ready, willing and able to carry out the task that had been entrusted to them by their two cat guardians. Sailor Mars, in fact, was more than eager to do so, after suffering the trauma of seeing her friends killed, injured and abused and having her home attacked and almost destroyed.

"So how many yakuza are we facing, Yuichiro-kun?" she impatiently asked her partner. Both were crouching in a concealed position in the midst of a leafy hedge of azalea bushes, from where they were secretly keeping the warehouse that was their target under close observation.

"There looks to be at least ten or twelve yakuza guarding the building," he whispered back to her, lowering his binoculars. "This is definitely the storage site for that big drug shipment Artemis cat-dude found out about! So what do you want to do?"

"I'm going in right now," Sailor Mars told him with determination, her lovely deep purple eyes glittering with cold fire at her chance to get some more revenge. "Cover me, Yuichiro-kun. Stick a rocket up the can of anyone dumb enough to take a shot at me, while I fry their drug shipment to hell and gone. It's payback time!!"

Under the battered old World War Two helmet and safety glasses, Yuichiro's ruggedly good looking face – what she could see of it under his overlong fringe – gave her a bleak grin. "Don't worry, I gotcha back, Baby!"

For a second, Rei's grim face softened at his loyalty. Resting a delicate gloved hand momentarily on his thick arm, she said in a concerned tone, "You stay back and cover me from here, understand? And Yuichiro-kun, I - _Um, You know that I…?_ Look, just be careful, okay?"

"You too, Rei-chan. And I feel the same way about you."

Wiping an involuntary tear from her eye, Sailor Mars turned from her lover and strode with determination directly towards the gaping doors of the warehouse and the now panicking, scuttling crowd of enemies within, reddish-violet flames beginning to leap and shimmer around her wildly beautiful feminine form.

"_Run like the pond scum that you are, you raping, kidnapping, drug-dealing pieces of filth! I'm going to fry your sorry asses into ash particles for what you did to my home and my friends!!"_

A car raced through the doorway, packed with fleeing gangsters. Without breaking her stride, Rei shouted, _"Fire Soul!!"_ and a stream of red flame flickered like a ray of light between her and her target. The car blew with a thunderous explosion, rolled three times and ended up crashing into the chain link fence surrounding the complex. The survivors crawled out and fled!

From up on the rooftop of the warehouse came the sound of a gunshot, and a small geyser of concrete erupted only a foot or two away from her red high-heeled right foot. That was too close!

Yuichiro pinpointed the distant shape instantly. Shouldering the heavy old antique, he squinted down the rudimentary sights on the barrel and touched off the shot. His aim was good – or lucky. A second later a thunderous explosion lit up the night sky with a flash of light and the man was hurled off the rooftop in a shower of scintillating sparks and debris!

"_Thanks,_ _Yuichiro-kun!" _Sailor Mars called back to him.

With that action, all further resistance collapsed. The very few remaining yakuza still on their feet scattered and ran for their lives!

Then as he watched with fearful admiration, Rei stalked like a wrathful goddess through the cavernous warehouse, hands blasting out streams of fire to her left and right, erupting chains of flames roaring through the stacks of piled crates surrounding her.

"_Whoo-hooo! You go, Babe!_ Here's one shipment of drugs that isn't hitting the streets around here as anything but a cloud of ash!"

"_Yuichiro-kun! Move it! We've gotta get back to the Crown Game Center!"_

Scrambling to his feet, Yuichiro shouldered grandpa's old bazooka and dashed off down the centre of the warehouse after his ladylove, arms raised over his face to help protect it from the searing heat of the leaping flames.

"_I'm right behind ya, Babe!"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

_Oyabun_ (Boss) Takao Tanaka was in a bad mood. Not only were the profits from their organization's chain of Soapland and Fashion-Health Massage houses in the Kabukicho district down by twenty percent from what he had been expecting this financial quarter, but the horse that he had backed had come in a disappointing fifth place in the 'Autumn Tenno Sho' race at the Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, personally costing him the not inconsiderable sum of two hundred thousand yen. So he was in far from a good mood that day, even before the bombshell that was about to be dropped into his lap.

"Boss! Boss! Turn on your TV! All hell's breaking loose in Azabu-Juuban!"

It was his _Saiko Komon _(Senior Advisor)_,_ Toshio Ito. And if the anxiety in his voice wasn't enough to make the _Oyabun_ pay heed to his words, his _Saiko Komon's_ pale face sure was. Snatching up the remote control on his desktop, Boss Tanaka quickly switched on the big screen plasma TV on the wall opposite to his desk.

"Channel 21, _Oyabun-sama,"_ Ito urged him.

"_And now, just in from the news chopper are startling reports of a fire fight going in the industrial sector of Juuban, where a series of further explosions have been reported…! Wait. Here are the latest pictures, beamed directly from our cameraman on board the helicopter, of what seems to be a gunfight still in progress…!"_

The picture on the big screen abruptly changed to a slowly rotating aerial view of a large industrial building, a pillar of smoke pouring from one corner of its rooftop. Because it was night and the picture was somewhat jerky and corrupted by the occasional flicker of static, the two watchers could not immediately ascertain the building's location.

"That's one of our_ shabu _warehouses, isn't it?" the _Oyabun_ asked, leaning forward. "But which one-?"

The rotating news camera suddenly zoomed in on a solitary figure striding towards the building, managing to focus on her red sailor suited figure just as she fired a blast of flame from her hands in through the doorway.

"That's one of the sailor senshi, Sailor Mars, _Oyabun_-sama! We're being attacked by the sailor scouts!"

"But why?" Boss Tanaka growled out. "They have no reason to go to war against us, have they? What's happened down there?"

"I haven't had word of anything, apart from our organized pursuit of that pest, Sailor V. Azabu-Juuban is _Shateigashira_ Fujimori's turf. I'll put in a call to him to see if he knows-?!"

"It may have been a big mistake for me to authorize him to attack the Hikawa shrine, after all? Apparently the sailor senshi were somehow caught up in our raid, I have had a report that Sailor Mars down there was actively helping to defend the place… Maybe that's why she's attacking us, now?"

"Yes, we should be keeping a low profile. That raid, and our pursuit of Sailor V is drawing far, far too much police attention-!"

Next second the windows along the entire visible side of the huge warehouse blew out one after another in mushrooms of flame, just as _Saiko Komon_ Ito finally realized with horror just what had been stored at that location!

"_That was the location of Shipment 2 from China - over __500 kg of __Amphetamine!" _Senior Advisor Ito wailed._ "W__e've just lost 32,000,000,000 yen worth of street sales!!"_

_Oyabun_ Tanaka's face turned a pasty-white, and then a vivid shade of purple as he clenched his jaw in rage. For a second Ito thought that Tanaka was going to have a heart attack right then and there. But then the Boss of the Black Cap Yakuza regained control of both his senses and his power of speech.

"All right, let's get down there! If we're now at war with the sailor senshi, there's no point in holding back now. Let's get it over and done with. Load up my special gear into the truck, Toshio-san, and I'll meet you downstairs in five minutes. I'm going to deal with this problem _personally!"_

As his senior advisor ran off to do his bidding, _Oyabun _Tanaka typed in a special code into his computer, and then pushed 'enter'.

"_Voice activation on. Konban wa, Oyabun Tanaka-sama. 'Project Shinigami' activated. Waiting for orders."_

"I always knew that with us being based in a city with super powered crime fighters, we'd probably have to fight one group or another of them one day. Just as well I made plans…" Boss Tanaka muttered to himself. "Computer, load program file _'Operation Sailor Senshi.'"_

"_Program loaded. Waiting for orders."_

"Execute."

"_Executing program. Target files loaded. Modifying existing physical parameters… modifying existing physical parameters… optimum configuration achieved. Weapons systems check complete. All systems go. Waiting for orders."_

"The sailor senshi. _Kill them all."_

"_Orders received. Commencing Operation 'Sailor Senshi' now. Stand clear. Stand clear. Lift off in ten seconds, nine, eight-!"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

As the almost invisible yakuza Shinigami rose vertically up into the air from its hidden launch bay and then flew soundlessly away into the cloud wreathed night, a mysterious figure on a nearby rooftop below swore out aloud as she stared with frustration up at the faint, rapidly receding shape of her just missed target.

"Oh, crap!" the green and black clad woman berated herself as the strange flying machine was swallowed up by the all enveloping blackness. "I got here ten minutes too late to access that thing. Doctor D isn't gonna like this at all…?"

-:-:-:-:-:-

Out somewhere in the dark, Juuban night, Sailor V fled wildly across the rooftop of the huge department store that she had just scaled. Surely she had lost her carload of pursuers this time? After all, there was no way that they could see her from their car, this high up and shielded from the view of any watchers below by the parapets on the building – _was there?_

A rifle bullet fired from the top of the next building along showed her just how wrong her assumption of being unnoticed had been. The yakuza in the car below her had obviously been in radio contact with more of their unsavoury ilk and had conspired to set up a trap on the rooftops in front of her line of flight, into which she had now inadvertently blundered!

_Oh, crap!! I've got to get back down off this rooftop – I'm a sitting duck for that sniper up here!_

But worse was to come. The next bullet from the hidden sniper smashed her Crescent compact out of her hand in a shower of broken fragments!

"_Oh, damn,"_ Sailor V spat out, vaulting backwards over the railing and dropping down onto the parapet of the next story below, two more bullets zinging angrily over her streaming golden hair. "There goes my best weapon and my only link to the others! And they're still closing in on me from all directions…! _Now, what'll I do?"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_Luna! Get over here quick!"_

"_Artemis!"_ Luna called out, racing towards him in alarm. "What is it? What _else_ has gone wrong?"

"Nothing! It's good news for a change," he called back, his eyes lighting up with hope as he hung up the desk phone with both paws. "I've managed to contact someone very useful! I've got Sailor V some help!"

"Well, spit it out," Luna gasped, screeching to a halt beside him. _"Who?!"_

"_Heavy reinforcements,"_ was all Artemis would say. "He's moving to help Minako right now as we speak."

-:-:-:-:-:-

Meanwhile, Sailor V was now in very dire straits. She had made it safely down from the rooftops, but had just been cornered in a dead end by the swarm of relentlessly pursuing yakuza, trapped where the access way she had been retreating down was abruptly cut off at right angles by a seven-meter high brick wall. Given enough time, she could still have gotten over it with little difficulty – but she wasn't going to be given that time. She ducked as a spray of bullets danced their way across the bricks at just above head height behind her. Too late to jump up now, she'd be a sitting duck!

"_Curse the luck,"_ she snapped to herself, searching desperately for a way out of her predicament. A doorway, a manhole, anything! But then it was too late for anything but to try to hide. At least a dozen powerful cars, chock full of hostiles, were screeching to a stop in front of the driveway, sealing it off. Armed men poured from the vehicles, running towards their point man, who was waving his arms and pointing off down the alley towards where she was crouching down behind the dubious cover of a row of rubbish skip bins.

"There she is! We've caught her at last!"

"_Kill her!"_ Their leader snarled, raising his gun to fire.

"But aren't we supposed to take her alive?" the first man protested, remembering the warmth and softness of her stunningly attractive body from his turn with Minako at the 'Happy Hour' bar on Friday night. "Isn't she supposed to be sent to Kabukicho?

"No, that order's been rescinded. She's caused us too much trouble, damage and casualties." He pointed his rifle directly at Sailor V's pale white face. "You're dead meat, Sailor V!"

Next second, before the yakuza leader could squeeze the trigger of his cut down weapon, Sailor V got the shock of her young life! With terrifying suddenness, a large section of the brick wall immediately to the rear of the seemingly doomed sailor scout caved outwards in a shower of broken bricks and dust, and a _giant, _clad in a brown trench coat almost the size of a small tent, emerged through the midst of the cascading debris!

In her astonished confusion as he loomed over her, Sailor V's mind managed to register only two things, firstly that the stranger was _huge_ _– at least six and a half feet tall! –_ Secondly, despite the dark-lensed glasses covering his eyes, she could see that he was a light haired foreigner.

Then he was upon her! Before Sailor V could react, she felt herself being scooped up off the ground in a hand the size of a ham. A split second later, she was flung in a high arc thirty feet through the air onto the top of a nearby warehouse. Twisting in mid air, Sailor V managed to alight on her feet, then she crouched down to stare in amazement as the giant foreigner continued on his charge, directly into the massed gunfire of the yakuza hit squad!

Streams of bullets poured from the flaming nozzles of guns directly into his chest, having no more seeming effect on his progress than pelting him with paper pellets would have done. But _nothing_ could survive that much massed firepower at such a short range _– just what was he?!_

Shouts of consternation and alarm arose from the ranks of the gangsters as they realised that they couldn't stop their towering attacker. However, most kept their formation as they began to retreat back past their parked vehicles, firing steadily as they sought to retard their pursuer's progress.

Then the stranger reached the first of the vehicles. Two massive hands grasped the heavy sedan, hoisted it up off the ground as easily as if it was made of cardboard, and flung it directly into the midst of the now-panicking mob of yakuza! As it struck the hard road surface the car blew up in a fireball of sound and fury, scattering the hapless men like leaves in a strong wind. A second car followed the first, and then her saviour was amongst them!

Up on her perch, Sailor V could scarcely believe the evidence of her own eyes as she saw the fight that followed. She watched the stranger's right fist smash clean _through_ the side of a fleeing car, yanking a gangster _and_ the door out of the vehicle at the same time. He kicked the front of a second car as it attempted to ram him at high speed, buckling the entire engine compartment in and bringing it to a dead stop as effectively as if it had run directly into a thick tree trunk. A third car had its roof torn completely off, the men inside grabbed and flung away like rag dolls, the shouting, screaming men thumping hard into the ground, thudding into walls, bouncing off other vehicles, all at some distance away from their launching point. None could stand before him, all that tried would try no more.

His power was incredible! Was this mysterious stranger truly a person – or a super powered youma in disguise? Speaking for herself, Minako was silently praying that he was indeed a guy. _Oh, Kami-sama!_ _If he is, then what a man!_

And then the fight was over. All of the surviving gangsters had fled; those still visible in the flickering light of the fires were lying still where they had fallen. The towering foreigner emerged from the flaming wreckage, his backlit silhouette strolling nonchalantly back down the alley towards her lofty position of safety, casting a huge black shadow like a shroud of doom ahead of him.

Sailor V was brave, but she still couldn't suppress a shiver of apprehension as the destroyer approached her position. What would happen now? Was he a friend or an enemy? A friend, she was sure – but one could never be too careful, not in her line of work!

As he drew near, Sailor V could hear that he was – of all things – _Humming a catchy tune! _Then he came to a stop directly beneath her, looked up, nodded, and gave her a friendly wave.

"All right, you can come down off there, now," he grinned up at her, removing his miraculously still-intact dark glasses so that he could see her more clearly. "I've swept up the rubbish for you."

"Like heck I will," Sailor V countered, understandably still wary of someone who could break through brick walls like paper and throw cars like tennis balls. "Who the heck are you? _What_ are you? And how did you smash through the wall like that and throw those cars about like they were toys?"

"Don't worry, I'm _usually_ classed as human," the massive sandy haired foreigner laughed good-naturedly, if a bit cryptically. "And as for the physical feats, maybe I just had a little bit of extra sugar on my cereal this morning?"

Despite her alarm, Sailor V let out an involuntary chuckle at his words. She was instinctively liking him more and more. And he was handsome, too, she realised with delight. _But even so – be careful, Minako,_ she warned herself. _Your life depends on you being sure._

"You still haven't told me your name yet. And just why did you save me from the yakuza?"

"Let's just say that I owe Artemis a favor," the giant answered, the friendly smile still on his face. "As for me, I'm Vincent S."

"_Vincent S?"_ Minako breathed to herself in excitement, her heart beginning to hammer underneath her sailor top. "I've heard of you! Artemis mentioned you to me once…! You're a crime fighter, too?"

"Some would say that," he agreed. "So, what do you say, Sailor V – or should I say _'Minako Aino'?"_

"_You know my real identity? But how…?_ Oh! Of course. Artemis!" That cinched it. "All right, I'm coming down!" With that, she leapt off the building roof, flipped once and gracefully dropped, feet first and long legs outstretched, the twenty feet straight down onto the asphalt in front of him.

"Nice jump," Vincent remarked, staring down at her with interest as she rose up off one knee to face her rescuer. "I'd say that you'd be a real hit at volleyball?"

"_Oh, I already am",_ Minako declared, staring up at the massive _total hunk_ in front of her. Just wait until her friends saw her with him! And she could tell that he was already interested in her as well, she could clearly see it in his eyes.

_Oh, wow! What luck! But why does this feeling that I'm having right now make me feel as if I'm a little guilty…of betraying Bunny-chan? What the heck is wrong with me?_

"Just look at the mess those bullets made of your coat?!" Sailor V continued, trying hard to hide her confused feelings from her new, most welcome acquaintance. "Are you _sure_ that you're not hurt?"

"Yep. Except that you wounded me somewhat when you didn't trust me before."

This time Minako did laugh, punching him on his arm in delight. _Ow!_ _His muscles are like steel plating!_

"Hey, Minako-chan, I've got a question. I thought that you were Sailor Venus now, not still Sailor V. Why the earlier form?"

"I had my transformation stick taken from me when I was just the normal Minako Aino and got grabbed in an alley," she told him truthfully. "And it was sheer luck that I managed to get free and get my Sailor V Transformation pen out of my clothes in the room where I and a friend were being held captive. We managed to get out of the building, but then we were discovered again. My friend was captured again, I transformed and managed to fight my way out, and I think you know most of the rest. I hope that you're not _too _disappointed at what you see now, though?"

"_Not at all._ Well, now that the formalities are out of the way, we'd best hit the road. The Juuban police force will be here any second now and we don't want to be tossed in the slammer for hours, answering difficult questions. Besides, I've got to get you safely back to Artemis and Luna, they must be worried sick about you?"

"But you, you _will_ be sticking around for awhile after all of this is done, won't you?" Minako asked him anxiously, in no hurry to see her handsome rescuer ride off into the sunset just yet – especially since she was looking forward to properly rewarding him for his heroism in saving her from certain death. "I'll _definitely_ make it worth your while…?"

_Did I actually, really say that out loud to him? But – what about how that would make Bunny-chan feel? Oh, Bunny-chan…I'm sorry!_

Despite himself, Vincent S had already been impressed by what he had seen so far of this extremely attractive teenage crime fighter with her long golden hair – her bravery, strength and agility were phenomenal. And now that she was standing right there in front of him, her incredible beauty and friendly demeanour only made her even more so. And she was obviously attracted to him as well – that much was obvious…!

"Okay," he agreed. After all, this definitely _wasn't_ a hard choice for him to make - not with a girl like her interested in him. "You _may_ be able to persuade me to stick around for awhile, if we both survive this fiasco you've gotten yourself in to. But first, take me to your leader."

"_All right!"_ Sailor V whooped to herself, grabbing the handsome stranger's right arm, stifling a gasp of delight as she realised the sheer size and hardness of the rolling muscles beneath the trench coat. _"Ahem!_ Okay, it's this way, Vincent-san. Stick close!"

"Oh, don't worry, I intend to." Looking ruefully again at the sieve-like appearance of the front of his trench coat, still smoking slightly from the multiple impacts of dozens of red hot bullets, he added, "Artemis owes me a whole new outfit for this, and I intend to collect from him! Garments in _my_ size aren't easy to replace."


	17. Chapter 17

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Well, how did our diversion work out?" Sailor Mars called out anxiously to Artemis and Luna as she and Yuichiro hurried back into the war room at the Game Center. Both were totally unharmed from the less than enthusiastic resistance of the yakuza guards at the destroyed warehouse, nor, as far as the pair could tell, had anyone – _or anything_ - attempted to track them back to their hidden base. "Did Sailor V manage to escape the yakuza, or do we need to go back out again?"

"No, you two did fine," Luna told them both, looking as pleased as punch at their success. "And we also managed to get some other help as well. Artemis got through to a rather secretive organization that he knows of, and by a remarkable coincidence, they happened to have an operative in Tokyo right at this very moment. Their man moved in on the yakuza hit squads chasing Sailor V, and our combined team managed to defeat the whole bunch of them! Minako's safe and they both are on their way back here right now. All in all, with your demolition of the _shabu_ warehouse and its multi million yen contents, a very good night's work for us, I'd say?"

Sailor Mars and Yuichiro grinned at each other with relief and satisfaction at their success. Even though the Black Cap Yakuza outnumbered their meagre force maybe over a thousand to one, if all of the greater Tokyo area was taken into account, the combined efforts of them both and Sailor V had still managed to whittle the odds down a fair bit over the last day or so.

"Very good work," Artemis confirmed, looking up from his map, a wide smile on his own face. "Yuichiro, how's your ammo for the bazooka holding out?"

"I'm down to five rounds left on me," he replied, leaning the big launcher carefully down against a padded seat, before unslinging his ammunition backpack. "I could do with another five, Cat-dude."

"Here," Artemis drew a peculiar pattern in the air with his tail and another five bazooka shells materialized out of thin air from the reserve supply onto the table next to him. "And try to make every shot count. I've only got ten rounds left in the inventory, now."

"Thanks, Artemis-dude. Hey, you don't have a beer or two in there as well, do ya?"

"Not at the moment," Artemis grinned good-naturedly. "If I did, I'd be having one myself, to celebrate. But I _have_ collected an extensive armory of discarded yakuza weapons from the woods around the Hikawa shrine, if you need any of them?"

"I'll grab a reasonably large calibre handgun off you, if you've got a decent one? And as much ammo for it as you have, too."

"Done." Another gesture and the requested item and ammunition appeared on the tabletop next to the bazooka shells. "Here's a Glock 21 semi-automatic pistol with night sights. It's got a 13 round magazine of .45 ACP shells and there are two more full magazines next to it, along with two further boxes of ammo. _Enjoy."_

"Thanks, Cat-dude. With this baby, and _my_ baby, Rei-chan, I'll have all the firepower I need – just in case I run out of shells for Grandpa's bazooka."

Sailor Mars blushed at his words, and punched him in the back – gently of course.

The four were just settling down once again and Luna was just opening her mouth to suggest that Rei and Yuichiro went to get some well-earned sleep, when from just down the hallway a faint scream of panic suddenly came to their ears!

"_That came from Usagi's room,"_ Luna cried out, leaping off the tabletop and hurrying towards the still open door that led out into the hallway. "Rei, come with me and check it out!"

"_Bunny-chan!"_ Rei gasped out, her face as white as a sheet as her overactive imagination jumped to premature conclusions as to what could be happening to her best friend at that very second. "I'm right behind you, Luna!"

But before the two anxious friends could reach Usagi's room, Diana, whom also had an alarmed look in her huge red eyes, met them in the hallway.

"It's Usagi-sama," the kitten told them. "She's having some sort of a terrible nightmare! She's twisting and turning on her bed, and her blanket has fallen down onto the floor. I thought that I'd best come out and get you to help, Luna-mama."

"Good girl. Go and wait with Artemis while Rei and I go and comfort her."

"Yes, Luna-mama."

"At least we know that it's not a youma attack," Luna whispered out in relief to Rei as they quickly headed down the passage. "But Usagi has been through a lot when she was kidnapped by the yakuza, so it's only understandable that she's having a nightmare. We'd best wake her up, _gently."_

"Gotcha, Luna," Rei agreed, as they reached the dark room and entered through the partly open door. Quickly Rei switched on the light and they both stared apprehensively towards the fold down couch that was serving as Usagi's bed. "There she is. _Whew!_ It looks like she's settled down a bit from what Diana just told us…?"

"Good. But you'd best wake her, just the same. She needs to know that we're here for her and that she's safe."

"Okay…hold on? What's that that she's saying in her sleep…?"

"_...Minako-chan…hold me…?"_ Usagi mumbled, then a smile came to her now peaceful looking face. _"You saved me…love you…please kiss me…?"_

"_What the?_ Usagi – _Bunny-chan!_ _Wake up!"_

"Huh? Oh…what's going on…?" Usagi's blue eyes snapped open and she sat up with surprise as she saw both Rei-chan's and Luna's worried faces staring at her from only a foot away. _"You guys! What's happened?"_

"You were having a nightmare," Luna informed her, sitting down on the makeshift bed next to the alarmed girl. "You screamed in your sleep so we both came in to see if you were all right."

"I – I'm fine, Luna," Usagi replied, scratching the back of her head as a sheepish look came to her face at their concern. "It was a nightmare…I was back in that bar that Minako-chan rescued me from." A scared look crossed Usagi's face as she remembered her horrific ordeal and she shivered at the memory. "But I'm fine, now, guys. _Really."_

Rei leant forward and they hugged each other tight for a second, and then parted again. "Now, you're absolutely _sure_ about that?" Rei asked her friend, still looking a little worried. "You being fine, I mean? You were saying some other…_strange things_…just now…?"

Usagi laughed, banishing the momentary cloud behind her lovely eyes. "Absolutely, Rei-chan! I'm safe back here with you guys, now. I've no reason to be scared with you all here. _Ah…_but what strange things was I talking about, just before…?"

"_Oh, nothing, nothing,"_ Rei hurriedly replied, a slight blush coming to her face. "You were still dreaming, so…it didn't make any sense."

"Well, I'm sorry for freaking you out, Rei-chan. And thank you both for being so worried about me. I'm sure that I can sleep peacefully and without crying like a baby, now that I know for sure that you are here to watch over me and keep me safe?"

"Okay, fine," Rei said, getting back up the dishevelled bed and tucking her dear friend back in under the blanket again. "But you just make sure that you call out to us if you need us, okay, Bunny-chan? We're all here for you."

"I will, I will!" Usagi laughed again, snuggling back down beneath the makeshift curtain blanket. "Don't worry too much about me, I'll be fine, _honestly! _Good night, Rei-chan, Luna!"

_No, you won't, Bunny-chan,_ Rei thought to herself as she and Luna exited the room again. _Not after what you've been through…! But I'm here to protect you, now, and this type of abuse will never ever happen to you ever again, I swear it! But…just what did you mean when you called out for Minako-chan to hold you, just before…?_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Here's my vehicle up ahead," Vincent S pointed out to Minako as they made their way carefully along a deserted lane towards where he had parked his transport. "Luckily I was already in the area, so I was able to get to you within only ten minutes."

"You mean that strange looking SUV over there? What is it?"

"That's a Hummer H2, with four wheel drive, and a 6 litre engine that produces 325 horsepower. It's also got a really strong truck frame, which comes in handy for any vehicle that needs to carry _me_ around."

"_Wow! Can I drive? Please?"_

"No."

"_Awwww?!_ But somehow I figured that someone like you'd be driving something tough, like a Hummer," Minako laughed at him, then announced proudly, "I, myself, drive a Shelby Cobra GT 500 KR, with a 428 Cobra Jet V-8 engine in it that pulls 335 horsepower!"

"What? Where and how in the heck does a fifteen year old girl get one of those, without even having a drivers licence?"

"I do, too, have a drivers licence," Minako disputed. "Artemis whipped one up for me! And it's so good that no policeman has ever found it out. Besides, he also hacked the drivers licence database and put my name on it, anyway, so I've got nothing to worry about even if I _do_ get pulled over!"

"Yeah? Figures! He's one tricky cat, Artemis. And I suppose as Sailor V you do need to be able to drive a vehicle?"

"You got that right. That's how Bunny-chan and I escaped from the yakuza and the 'Happy Hour' bar."

"_Who?"_

"Bunny-chan. My friend."

"Oh, you mean Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon?"

"_What the heck?! You know that, too?"_

"Yup."

"_But how?_ Oh…!"

"Yeah," they chorused together, giving each other matching big grins. _"Artemis!"_

They both reached the huge, four-wheel drive vehicle and got in. Once she had strapped herself safely into the front passenger seat, Minako asked as to exactly where they were in Juuban. During her flight from the pursuing yakuza, she had lost all track of where she was, having had to concentrate instead on sheer survival.

Upon being told of their location, Sailor V's eyes lit up behind her red mask. "I know where I am, now! We're not too far away from the 'Happy Hour' bar where I was being held prisoner with Bunny-chan. Vincent-san, could you do me a teensy-weensy little favor?"

"And that is?" he asked, turning in his seat to stare quizzically at her eager face. "And, no, I don't have time to take you to a Love Hotel this very minute. Artemis and Luna would go spare…!"

He laughed at the blush that painted Sailor V's cheeks bright red. "No, no, it's not that!" she exclaimed. _Yet,_ she added under her breath.

"Well? Out with it."

"If we both go back to the 'Happy Hour' bar, right now, with your help I'll be able to get my Sailor Venus Henshin stick back! I need it, especially since my Sailor V compact has now been destroyed. As you know, I'm much more powerful as Sailor Venus, anyway. And I know exactly where I dropped it, too, so we can be in and out of that alley in only a few seconds!"

Vincent S considered her request and quickly came to a decision. The sailor scouts were going to need every advantage that they could get if they hoped to survive this war with the vastly numerically superior Black Cap yakuza gang, even with his help. And that Henshin stick would go a little way towards readdressing the imbalance, after all…?

"Yeah, okay. Good idea, especially since we're pretty close to the location of the bar. It's only about twelve blocks away from here, if I remember correctly? But after that, we both go straight back to the Crown Game Center. _Deal?"_

"_Deal!"_

As the huge vehicle switched on its headlights and then pulled away from the kerb, a black shadow detached itself from that cast by an air conditioning unit of the roof of a building overlooking the street. Red eyes glimmered for a moment, then a vast black bulk, indicative of preternatural strength and power, leapt away over the moon kissed rooftop in the direction that the Hummer H2 had just gone.

-:-:-:-:-:-

At about this time, at a location in a different part of the vast, sprawling city of Tokyo, another supernatural creature, this one with luminescent yellow eyes, had just arrived at the National Medical Clinic in Minami-Azabu. Zephyr the youma was not in a particularly good mood that night as he surveyed the damage done to the outside wall of the room that had held their prospective prey.

Things were definitely starting to take a turn for the worse. Firstly, the one other youma whom he had managed to make contact with in the entire Tokyo metropolitan area had been fried into a wind blown pile of ash at the Hikawa shrine after making the cardinal mistake of underestimating Sailor Mars. Zephyr had told the physically overdeveloped idiot to wait for his arrival so that they both could have attacked her simultaneously, but, no, the young cretin had been far too eager to be in at the kill to follow his sage advice! And now he was a cloud of random atoms, the attacking yakuza had failed in their attempt as well, and the remaining sailor scout and her companions had somehow teleported away to a hidden place of safety.

Secondly, his supposedly invincible allies, the _Oni_ demons, had proved to be largely worse than useless. The musclebound morons had allowed themselves to be ambushed by two of the sailor senshi and wiped out at their dimensional portal in Arisugawa Park. Even worse, the stone circle had been destroyed as well, precluding the possibility of him travelling back to the _Oni_ home world and finding further demon reinforcements that were ready, willing and able to avenge their fallen comrades.

Thirdly, Yaadrig had not reported in after his mission on Saturday night to kill the helpless sailor scout whom was bed ridden at this facility. Which was why he was here, now, to discover what had gone wrong with this easiest of tasks. But, judging from what the frustrated youma could see of the blast damage on the outside of the building, Yaadrig had also underestimated his supposedly unconscious prey and come off a fatal second best…!

_What else could possibly go wrong?_ Zephyr thought to himself, a look of frustrated fury crossing his already far from picturesque face. And all after his plan to exterminate the sailor senshi had started off so successfully, too…! But now, the grand total for his efforts was one sailor scout dead, one injured but on the run, one being pursued by the increasingly more and more inept yakuza, and two sailor scouts still on the loose – one of whom was Sailor Moon, with her powers fully restored…!

_We should have killed her when she was laying helpless in that alley! Curse me for leaving that wretched girl alive…!_

_But wait? What was that scent that he smelled?_ Lowering his nose to the grass, Zephyr used his supernatural sense of smell to analyse the odor.

"_O-ho!_ I can smell you, sailor girl! So you've made a break for it across this lawn, have you…?" The two-meter plus tall youma grinned with jagged teeth satisfaction and a gleam of revenge appeared in his pupil less, yellow eyes. "Well, now, it may take me a little while to track you down, but there's no way that you're going to take _me_ by surprise, like you did to Yaadrig! And when I finally do catch up to you, I'll crack your arm and leg bones, then you will die – but not until after I have taken my full pleasure with your body for what you have done to my oldest and dearest friend…!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

The bolt of blue plasma came out of nowhere. One second the Hummer H2 was driving normally down the dark, irregularly lit back street, the next second, the over two thousand, nine hundred kilogram vehicle was lurching sideways, blown almost completely off the road by the power of the explosion on the tarmac next to its left hand front wheel!

"_Hold on!"_ Vincent yelled as the huge SUV mounted the opposite kerb and headed directly towards a concrete power pole! "We're going to-!"

The massive vehicle smashed headlong into the solid obstruction, bringing it to a sudden, jarring halt, throwing the two occupants forward into the crash bags as the safety devices exploded out of the dashboard at the brutal impact!

"_Wowtch!"_ Minako gasped out in shock, untangling herself from the protective bag and hurriedly unbuckling her seat belt. _"Vincent! Vincent-san! Are you all right?!"_

"No worries! But this crash will pay havoc with my car insurance."

"We're under attack," Minako quickly advised him, transforming back into Sailor V even as she spoke. "We've gotta get out of this vehicle before they nail it _and_ us!"

"Luckily for you, this Hummer H2 of mine has special armor plate built into it, and even the seat covers are made of Kevlar 29," he advised her, taking off his own seat belt. "Not that _I_ need it, of course. But sometimes my passengers do. C'mon, let's go!"

The two leapt out of the hummer, slamming the doors shut behind them just as another blue bolt of fire lanced its way down, directly into the side of the stationary vehicle. The blast blew Sailor V clean off her feet, throwing her headlong through the air. The hapless sailor scout managed to twist her body in mid air just in time, to impact feet first against the solid brick wall of the nearest building. Straightening her long legs like an uncoiling spring, Sailor V launched herself back off the wall in a diving roll – directly towards a huge, black monster that had suddenly risen straight up, seemingly out of a shadow on the pavement, directly in front of her!

"_Oh, crap!"_

As a massive, clawed hand blurred towards her face, Sailor V had only a split second to react. Both of her own, white-gloved fists shot forward, striking the coal-black palm of her huge attacker, deflecting her body away from its wickedly hooked claws as they snatched at her head, passing harmlessly through her flowing golden hair. Dropping in a crouch at the feet of the strange, horned beast, Sailor V launched a snap sidekick straight up into its snaggle-toothed face as it peered down at her, then dived directly between its wide spread legs as a black fist thumped down _through_ the concrete pavement, right where her body had been a heartbeat before!

Regaining her feet, Sailor V braced herself for the fight of her young life against this seemingly invincible ebon monstrosity. The hideous horned creature whirled around with surprising speed, stared down at her with those blazing red eyes, and took one step in her direction-!

Moving so fast that Sailor V barely registered his arrival, the almost as massive shape of her giant savior arrived on the scene. His nearly ham sized right fist smashed into the jaw of the horror, lifting it clean off its bulky feet and backwards, sending the over two meter tall frame of the thing completely through the solid brick wall that Sailor V had only narrowly missed being splattered against only a few seconds before!

"_Run,"_ Vincent S told the scared looking Sailor V. "You can't help me out here, especially without your Crescent compact. Get back to the Crown Game Center while I hold this thing off!"

"_But, you-?"_ Minako started to protest, taking a step towards him.

"No, this thing is way beyond your power level! If you do stay, you'll die! Just go, before it decides to take you out before concentrating on me!"

"Oh-okay, Vincent-san…! You just take care, now," Sailor V cried out as she turned to run. "Don't get yourself hurt…! I – _we _need you!"

"As you already know, hurting me's easier said than done," Vincent declared grimly. "I'll see ya back at the Center!"

"_Bye…!"_

Sailor V had just vanished from sight in the shadows further down the road, when with a mighty crunching and grating sound, the massive black, horned creature emerged up from under the remains of the collapsed brick and concrete wall.

"A good punch, human," the _Oni_ demon cackled, feeling at its armored jaw as it made it back to his cloven feet. "But a futile one…! Your feeble resistance will serve you naught but to whet my appetite for when I feast upon the marrow from your splintered bones!"

"Is that right?" Vincent S laughed back grimly, raising up both huge fists into a position of readiness. "Just try it, Cow-Boy! I'll use those horns of yours as toothpicks when I dine on your steak-filled, T-Bone ass!

The Demon roared and flung himself forward. Vincent S braced himself for the impact.

-:-:-:-:-:-

_Screw this!_ Sailor V thought to herself as she rounded a corner, disappearing out of sight of the savage confrontation. _I don't run out on a friend, ever!_ Halting her flight, she stared back in the direction that she had come.

"I can't leave until I see what happens back there, anyway," Minako told herself out loud. "But I don't want to be seen by that thing, either, so I'd best find a good hiding place on a dark rooftop back there, one with a good view of the action…!"

Bending her knees, Sailor V leapt straight upwards, hands grasping the bottom of a metal fire escape ladder some fifteen feet directly above her. Quickly and effortlessly she pulled herself up onto the platform, then sprang up the shadowy stairs towards her new – hopefully unnoticed - vantage point.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Vincent S had been hit by some pretty big beings before, both human and otherwise. But this was the first time that he had faced an _Oni_ demon. And the physical power of the thing was incredible.

The demon was thinking similar thoughts. Never before had the massive creature faced a human of any size who could hit him hard enough to actually hurt him. And the human seemed to be uncommonly large for one of its species – _what was going on, here?_

"You're no weakling human," the _Oni_ declared as it picked itself back up again from under the remains of what was once a car, before he had been swatted like a fly by it. "You are – _something else?"_

"Yep," Vincent S answered, not even breathing heavily yet as he forced his way out of the tangle of live electrical cables that had fallen on him from a snapped off power pole, covering his huge frame with hissing, crackling snakes of pulsating electrical current. Once clear of the lethal, high voltage steel ropes, he removed what was left of his tattered, smoking trench coat, dropping it to the cracked pavement at his feet, displaying his almost superhuman muscular development for the creature to see. "I _am_ mostly human, but, like you said, there _is_ a part of me that's – _different._ But let's get on with round two, now, shall we?"

Up in her concealed position on a nearby rooftop, Sailor V felt as if she would faint from awe at the _very _impressive sight of her towering, bare chested friend as he discarded his upper clothing.

_Oh, wowwww! _Just who _is _this guy_ – Mister Universe?! What – a – man!!_

The demon, too, seemed to be somewhat impressed by whom it was facing. "Your muscular development may be well beyond the norm for your species, but it is still no match for mine, half-human. Nor are you a match for me!"

"Let's put that to the test, now, shall we?" Vincent answered, moving forward again in a half crouch. "Let's see what you've got, fish face!"

The _Oni_ roared and charged forward once again, heavy footfalls thumping like pistons on the hard ground. The two giant combatants met with a flurry of punches and kicks, before seizing and grappling each other with arms bulging with steel hard muscles. Then the two towering adversaries reeled backwards through the huge hole in the brick wall that the demon had originally made, vanishing into the darkness inside the multi-storied building.

Up in her lofty hiding place, Sailor V shoved her head forward – just in time to see a sudden flash of bright blue light inside the smashed in opening, followed by the sound of a muffled explosion. Then, to her horror, with a hideous grating and crunching sound, the entire surrounding building began to crumble, collapsing in upon itself in an avalanche of buckling steel and dissolving concrete, sending a giant dust cloud billowing upwards and out from the imploding structure!

Sailor V made it down off the rooftop in record time. Once down on the debris littered sidewalk, hoping against hope, she ran forward crying out her new friend's name again and again, tears flowing freely from behind her red mask. But only the crack and rumble of still falling masonry came to her straining ears. Collapsing onto her knees on the crumbled pavement amongst the heaps of shattered rubble, Sailor V buried her streaming face in her hands and cried out with misery in her anguish and loss.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_Everybody! I'm back!"_

At the sound of Minako's tired but passably cheery voice reverberating down the basement hallway, the door to Usagi's room burst open and the dishevelled sailor scout of the moon appeared as if by magic right there in front of her weary looking friend.

"_Minako-chan!"_ Usagi flung herself into Sailor V's arms and clung to her, tears of joy and relief flowing freely from the corners of her closed eyes. "It's so good to see you back…!"

"_Bunny-chan,"_ Minako sighed with delight of her own, blissfully hugging the soft and slender body of her dear friend to her, just as tightly as Usagi was clinging on to her own body. "I'm so glad that you managed to escape from the yakuza, and now I'm finally safely back here with you…!"

"Minako-chan," Usagi whispered, staring upwards with happy sparkles in her eyes, gazing with longing into the swimming blue eyes of her friend. Then her own blue eyes closed with a sharp intake of her breath, and her mouth moved upwards invitingly. "I've missed you so much…! I-!"

"There you are?" Luna's loud voice came from the doorway to the war room, interrupting what Usagi was about to say. "Welcome back, Sailor V!"

"_Minako!"_ Artemis added gleefully, at her side. "I'm really, _really _glad that you're safe. You're not injured, are you?" He looked past her and then asked, "But where's Vincent S? Didn't he come back here with you?"

At her cat guardian's perfectly valid questions, Minako's face fell, and she reluctantly untangled herself from Bunny-chan's welcoming arms – but still keeping Usagi's right hand clasped in her left one, though. "Artemis, Luna! Boy, am I glad to see you two as well! I'm as well as I can be, I guess, apart from a bullet graze here across this shoulder, a bunch of bruises and a cut on this arm from flying glass."

"Come into the meeting room, and I'll take a quick look at them," Luna offered, leaping up onto her shoulder to take a closer look at the flesh wound. "But, if they were too serious, you wouldn't be standing and talking to us like you are."

"But what about Vincent S?" Artemis persisted, now that he was sure that his protégée wasn't too seriously hurt.

"He didn't come back here with me, Artemis," Sailor V told him, her eyes clouding over as she remembered what had happened. "He was fighting a big, black thing, _and -!_ Well, I'll tell you about it in a minute, once we have all taken a seat. I'm pretty exhausted from all of my running, guys…!"

"Good point. Okay, come into the meeting room, Minako, and we'll get started as soon as Luna has patched up those wounds."

"Hey, where are Rei-chan and Yuichiro-kun, and Diana?" Minako queried, before anyone could move off. "They haven't all gone out again to fight the yakuza by themselves, have they?"

"No, it's their turn to sleep," Luna answered. "I'm enforcing strict rest breaks for all of us when we can, so that everyone can be as near to peak condition as possible for when we really need to be. And you should still be asleep as well, Usagi. You've only had a couple of hours rest tonight as it is. And as soon as you've given Artemis and myself your debriefing, I want you to go straight to bed as well, Sailor V!"

"Good idea, Luna. I'll tell you what, I really _could_ do with a good nights sleep after fighting and running from the yakuza for the last two-!"

Then another familiar voice interrupted her in mid-sentence. "What's going on out here? Oh? _Minako-chan!"_ The red sailor suited owner of the welcoming voice stepped out into the passage behind Sailor V and then ran towards her, arms outstretched.

"Rei-chan!"

The two girls embraced warmly as well, Usagi joining in, making it a group hug. "Thank god you're safe," Rei told Minako, a sentiment quickly echoed by Usagi. "Now there are three of us out of harm's way, hidden down here…!"

"And I'm glad that you and the others escaped safely from the shrine, Rei-chan," Minako replied, a guilty expression appearing on her face. "I'm just sorry that I wasn't there to help when you all really needed me…"

"It's not your fault, Minako-chan. You had your hands plenty full with trying to outrun the yakuza and keeping Bunny-chan safe at the same time."

"But I failed with doing that as well…! I'm so sorry! She was captured again, and-!"

"And now I'm right back here with you both," Usagi interrupted, squeezing both of her friends _hard_ to get their attention. "And I'm Sailor Moon again, so there's no harm done. It wasn't your fault that I got captured again by the yakuza, Minako-chan; it was my own silly fault for firing both barrels of that shotgun at the same time, after you specifically advised me not to do that! Then I fell off that fire escape, and-!"

"And the only place that you three are going to be falling in to anytime soon, is bed," Artemis firmly interrupted her. "But I'll need that debriefing from you first, Sailor V. Then it's off to bed with you."

"I'm coming for the debriefing too," Usagi announced defiantly, unwilling to release her comfortable grip on her wonderful friend's hand _quite_ yet.

"So am I," Rei added, now feeling far too hyped at Minako's survival and successful return to feel at all like sleeping at that moment.

Artemis and Luna exchanged a look of resignation at the two girls determination to spend precious time with their miraculously still alive friend, defying the badly needed rest that the two cats knew that all three of them desperately needed.

"All right, everybody can listen in, and then we'll work out a few more tactics for us to use afterwards," Luna finally said. "But then you're all off to bed, with no more arguments. _Got that?!"_

"Yes, Luna," the trio chorused. _"We promise."_


	18. Chapter 18

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Back in the downstairs briefing room under the Crown Game Center, the two cat advisors had just finished hearing Minako's tale of her long, running fight with their enemies, her last minute rescue by Vincent S, and his subsequent last battle against the mysterious black, horned monster.

"_So Vincent S is dead?"_ Artemis gasped out, staring at the sorrowful looking Sailor V as if she was crazy. "I find that very hard to believe. That guy is the nearest thing to being invincible as anyone or anything that I've ever met – or even heard of…!"

"I'm not sure that he is, not for certain," Minako admitted to her mentor, tears in her eyes as she thought back to what had transpired less than an hour ago. "This big demon thing and him were battling it out all down the street that we were on, when suddenly this entire building collapsed in on them both. When the dust had cleared I went over for a look but neither of them came out of the wreckage. I waited for as long as I could, but – but then I knew that I had to get back here, so I…I had to leave… I'm sorry, everyone, but I just don't know…?"

"You did the right thing, Minako," Luna consoled her, rubbing her face against Minako's arm as the weeping girl buried her grieving face momentarily into her gloved hands. "There was nothing further that you could have done to save him, and by staying there you would have put your own safety at unnecessary risk."

"Even with a building falling on him, I can't believe that Vincent S was taken out that easily…?" Artemis mused, a hint of a frown between his blue eyes as he gazed upwards towards the ceiling as he thought. "Maybe-?"

"That black demon thing that you mentioned – did it have white horns and red eyes?" Rei suddenly interrupted, leaning forward over the table, her violet eyes staring anxiously at the distraught Sailor V.

"Y-yes," Minako agreed, turning her teary blue eyes towards those of her concerned friend. "And it was pretty big for a youma, too…!"

"That was no youma, Minako-chan. That was another _Oni _demon!"

"_Oni_ demon? _What's that…?"_

"They come from another dimension. I discovered them through one of my fire readings at the shrine. Last night, we ambushed a hunting party of them in Arisugawa Park and wiped them all out before they could start to hunt _us!"_

"But I thought that we toasted them all earlier at the stone circle?" Artemis stated, forgetting his earlier train of thought. His blue eyes widened with worry and a bead of sweat rapidly formed on his forehead at the thought that there could be even more surviving demons loose in Tokyo. "So how could one have attacked you and Vincent S, Minako? None of the five that appeared at the stone circle in the park got away from our ambush, I'm positive of that...!"

"Maybe the one that you encountered, Minako, was an advance scout whom had slipped through the dimensional portal at the stone circle prior to our arrival on the scene?" Luna guessed. "What do you think of that possibility, Rei?"

"Yes, that's what I think must have happened, too," that worthy replied. "Let me just think for a moment and talk this through…?"

"Go ahead, Rei," Artemis replied, sitting back on the tabletop next to the equally interested looking Luna.

"Okay. There _were_ six standing stones in that circle, and only five _Oni_ that came through the portal before we ambushed them… There had to be six or less _Oni _– one or less for each stone in the circle for them to be able to travel through it and into our world successfully. So, if they had numbered _more_ than six, all trying to go through at the same time, the portal would have failed."

"Now, I remember from my fire reading that there was only six or seven Oni in their hunting party, in total. I'm not sure of the exact number. Bunny-chan and I got five, and then we destroyed the stone circle so that no more of them could come through. You and your big friend got another one, Minako-chan. So, at most, there's only one left, guys…and then, only if it had come through the portal before the other six had!"

"Only one is still one too many," Artemis declared. "Rei, is there any way that you can find out for sure for us? If there is one left, I mean?"

"Not without the sacred flame. I haven't sensed any more of them hanging around in our immediate vicinity, anyway. But, if I were asked to take a guess, I'd say that we _have_ got them all. If there _were_ any more than the one survivor that Minako-chan encountered, I'm sure that they would have stuck together and attacked Sailor V and Vincent S at the same time, especially after the losses that they had taken in Arisugawa Park!"

"_Hmmm?_ I think that you're right. And if there had been more than one of them still alive, they would have certainly attacked us back in the park, too – especially after we had fried the rest of their hunting party. Chances are, the five of us together would have been too much for a single demon to attack with any reasonable expectation of success, but it would have been a different story if there had been two or more of them there…?"

"I think that both you and Rei are correct, Artemis," Luna declared. "Good. Now that we're sure that we don't have any more demons to worry about, I suggest that we move on to the topic of combating the yakuza…?"

The next quarter of an hour was occupied with a quick group discussion about the tactics that the sailor scouts would need to employ if they hoped to stand a decent chance of defeating the massed forces of the Black Cap yakuza that were now certain to be arrayed against them. Everybody agreed that the Boss of the huge gang, _Oyabun _Tanaka, and his regional bosses_, _the _Shateigashira,_ would be less than impressed when they found out that half of their men in Azabu-Juuban ward were dead, injured or missing. High ranking yakuza were not known for their sense of humor in situations like these, and everyone in the room knew that if they made one wrong mistake in the war that was sure to follow, it would definitely be their last.

Usagi tried her best to keep up with the ebb and flow of the conversation, but she had never been a good listener. She was far too easily distracted by the things going on around her to have a long attention span. In this case, it was her confused emotions that were to blame. So, as the meeting went on, she found out that somehow her eyes just kept being drawn back time and time again to her dear friend, Minako-chan…

Minako's golden hair, her perfect figure, the smoothness of her skin, her grace and power as Sailor V and then Sailor Venus, all now seemed to hold an incredible fascination for the sailor scout of the moon…_but why…? And had she really almost kissed Minako-chan in the hallway when they had first been reunited again…?_

Usagi found herself beginning to daydream about just how similar they both were. The only real differences between them were that Minako was slightly taller than Usagi was, with her eyes a slightly different shade of blue and her hair a slightly different golden color. And they did have a lot of other things in common as well, far more than just their physical resemblance. Both girls liked arcade games, food, manga and leisure time to goof off in. Furthermore, both sailor scouts disliked homework and were usually late for class every morning.

_Minako-chan's lovely…_ Usagi daydreamed, her small chin cupped in her right hand as she kept a watch on her friend out of the corners of her eyes._ And she really, really cares about me. Why can't I keep my eyes off her? I can't help it…! Am I…in love with her?_

"Okay, everybody. Now we'd all best take Luna's advice and get some sleep in now, while we've all got the chance," Artemis finished, winding up the brief tactical discussion. "I've got an uneasy feeling that things are going to get really hot, really soon around here, and we're all going to have to be at our peak if we hope to get through this alive."

"Minako, you best choose one of the karaoke rooms or lounge rooms down here to sleep in," Luna added. "Most have fold out futons in them for beds and you can use some of the linen in the cupboard over there as blankets. You know where the staff and customer restrooms and showers are on this level, too, so feel free to use them before you go to sleep. Usagi and Rei and Yuichiro have already had their showers, earlier."

"Yes, Luna," Sailor V said.

"Right. I'm going to take Artemis's advice myself and get a nap in, right after I let Yuichiro, upstairs, know what the situation is. He's got the first one-hour watch, starting from now, followed by Rei, Artemis, myself, Minako, then Usagi. Good night, everyone!"

"_Goodnight, Luna,"_ everyone chorused as she jumped off the table and walked back out the door to find a good place to have her nap.

The room slowly emptied as the occupants made their way to their respective rooms to snatch some more sleep. Unsurprisingly, after she had transformed back from Sailor V to Minako Aino, Minako's first destination was the lovely hot shower. Only then did she begin to prepare her bed in one of the small rooms off the hallway.

Usagi found out to her surprise that she was still hungry, so she made her way upstairs to the nearest vending machine to buy a snack. She had eaten only a couple of hours ago, but despite having had a decent sized meal then, her stomach was demanding food again.

_Maybe I'm beginning to get better…? I haven't felt this hungry since last Friday? But I feel so tired…I need to eat and then rest for a bit, like Luna said._

When Usagi finally made it back down to the room that she had previously been asleep in, and Diana still was, the much fuller girl found her feet taking her one room further along the corridor from her one, to where she had noticed that Minako-chan had decided to have her rest. Taking a deep breath, Usagi knocked nervously on the closed door, wondering to herself just what it was that she was going to say to her friend when the door opened.

_Oh, please let me not make a fool out of myself? This has to go well, or else this could possibly be the most embarrassing moment of my entire life…!_

The door opened and Minako stood right there in front of Usagi, her eyes widening with surprised pleasure as she saw whom her visitor was. Minako smiled warmly at the apprehensive Usagi and swung the door wide open for her to enter.

"Bunny-chan! Come on in, I'm just getting my bed ready for my sleep."

Usagi walked into the small room, handing Minako a bag of crisps, a soda, and a big biscuit. "Here, Minako-chan. I've just come from upstairs and I thought that you might be hungry?"

"I am! Thanks, Bunny-chan! Here, take a seat?" Minako replied, carefully closing the door behind her friend and then eagerly accepting the offered snacks. "Yum! I was starving after all of that exercise running from the yakuza and you've just saved me a trip."

Taking a seat on one of the padded lounges next to the rear wall, Usagi opened her mouth, hesitated, and then closed it again, unable to find the right words to say. Sensing her friend's discomfort, Minako stopped eating the yummy big biscuit and moved closer to Usagi, just as she rose back to her feet again, face flushed with embarrassment.

"Bunny-chan, did you need to talk to me about something important?" Minako gently prompted her. "It's all right, you can talk to me about anything…_anything at all._ I don't mind…"

"Minako-chan, I just can't get out of my head what we did when the yakuza still had us both," Usagi finally managed to blurt out, face crimson and eyes on the floor. "I need to talk to you about it. Do you mind…?"

"Actually, no. I've wanted to talk about it with you, too…" Minako hesitantly replied, her face turning pink as well. She had sensed Usagi's eyes on her for most of the just-concluded meeting, and now she, too, was feeling even more confused about just why her heart seemed to beat so fast in the presence of her beautiful, kind and loving friend…?

_Oh, Bunny-chan…are you going to say the words that I desperately want you to say…? And…am I ready to hear them?_

"Good. _Ah,_ I'll go first." Usagi looked up at her nervous friend, and managed a quick smile. "_Um? Err,_ Minako-chan? _Um? _- What we did, and the feelings that I've been having about you – _good feelings, I mean…!"_ Bunny hastily reassured her nervous looking companion. "Do you think…_are they wrong?"_

"Bunny-chan, it's not your fault what happened to us back in that bar," Minako replied slowly, choosing her words with care in case she really _was_ mistaken about Bunny-chan's purpose in wanting to talk privately to her. "It's not my fault, either. We were both forced into having sex with each other…"

"I know, but that's not what I'm asking," Usagi told her, dropping her blue eyes again as a deeper flush appeared on her face. "I'm scared of them, the thoughts I've started having about us…being together, and I don't know what to do…!"

_What?_ _Is Bunny-chan really having the same feelings as I am? I had no idea before tonight that she had thoughts in that direction – I didn't even know that I could have feelings like this for another girl, until now…!_

"I don't think that they're wrong," Minako admitted, her face turning even redder as well at the uncomfortable but strangely exciting subject that they were discussing. "To be honest, I've been having…similar feelings about you… But why are you telling me this, now?"

"Because my dear Mamo-kun's dead," Usagi spoke, sounding as if she still didn't really believe that something that awful could possibly be true. "I never dreamed that Tuxedo Kamen could ever die, but our promised future together in Crystal Tokyo will now never be! We were going to get married after I turned sixteen, but now…? As much as I wish it to be otherwise, he is dead, and I…I have to move on. I have to start my life anew, now, and Minako-chan – it's hard. _It's so hard!"_

Minako felt her heart breaking at Usagi's distress. She did the only thing that she could under the circumstances; she took Usagi into her arms and held her tightly as they both shed bitter and regretful tears over their respective losses.

_Bunny-chan! I swear that I'll protect you if it costs me my very life in the battles ahead._ Then Minako finally admitted to herself what she had known in her heart ever since she had escaped from the yakuza bar. _Bunny, I – love you. I'm totally in love with you. And now that Mamoru-san is gone, I want you to be mine…_

"And the man – the man who's phone call at the Fashion-Health Club saved me – he's dead too… With poor Mamo-kun dead, I think that maybe I could have been interested in him – but now, I'll never know…!" Usagi's voice trailed off into silence again.

"I'm sorry for all of the pain that you've suffered, Bunny-chan," Minako whispered into her tearful friend's right ear, and meant it.

"But, Minako-chan," Usagi continued in a stronger voice, steeling her courage and looking directly into her sympathetic friend's clear blue eyes. "You and I, we shared something together in that bed at the yakuza bar - something that I never thought that I'd ever feel except with poor Mamo-kun. And…and I know that you are feeling the same way about me, now, too, Minako-chan. I know you think of me as more than a friend now, too…I can see it in your eyes."

"I…yes, Bunny-chan, I feel it, too…" Minako nervously admitted, her already racing heart doing a flip at Usagi's sincere words as Bunny sat down again on the built in couch, Minako quickly seating herself right next to her.

"I have no-one now, no-one except you. I need you, Minako-chan, I need to feel you next to me, holding me, loving me and caring for me." Usagi steadied her nerve, took a deep breath, and then just said it. "Because I - _love you."_

"_And I love you, too, Bunny-chan,"_ Minako timidly whispered back, letting her emotions take over as she bowed to the inevitability of what was going to happen – _must happen_ – to them both after Usagi's stunning admission. Now that she knew for sure that this was what her friend wanted as well, she had no intention of holding back her pent up feelings for Bunny any longer. _"Now and always."_

"_You do?"_ Usagi looked at her with a glimmer of new hope in her crystal blue eyes. _"You fell in love with me the other night as well?"_

"Yes, Bunny-chan, I did. I admit it. I love you. I wasn't sure at first because I haven't loved, or had anybody to love me – I mean _really_ love me - for a long, long time. And the last time that I did, in England, the man I did fall for, he fell in love with my best friend at school."

"And the guy I just met, Vincent S. Artemis knew him; apparently he was a crime fighter just like I used to be as Sailor V. You should have seen him, Bunny-chan! I wish that you could have met him. He was huge and muscular and good-looking, and he went through the yakuza that had cornered me like a clown through a paper hoop! I'd only met him then, but I really liked him and I know that he liked me, too."

"But then he died, Bunny-chan. I'm sure of it. As I told you all earlier, he was fighting that black, horned demon, and a four storied shop collapsed onto them both! After the dust had settled, neither of them came out…!"

Minako began to cry. "I don't want to love another guy again, Bunny-chan! I can't love another guy! It always ends in misery and heartbreak for me…!"

She caught hold of herself again, and wiped the tears out of her eyes as she continued with her dark tale.

"Do you know what it's like to be alone, Bunny-chan? I mean, _really alone?_ To have no-one to hold you at night, when most of your best friends – you, Rei-chan, and even Ami-chan and Mako-chan – either do, or have had recent boyfriends to love and spend precious time with?" She laughed bitterly and added, "Just look at me? I'm sorry. I'm named after the Planet of Love, and I can't even get a boyfriend…!"

"I'm so sorry for you, but I do - I do know why, Minako-chan," Usagi whispered. "Some of the guys at school gave me a clue as to the reason. It's because they look at you and are afraid to make their move…some of them think the same way about me, too."

"They are afraid of girls like me and you? But why?"

"It's because you are so good-looking. That's the reason. When they look at you, they see a beautiful girl who looks like an Idol, is good at physical sports and can sing, dance and act. You're perfect, Minako-chan! They all look up to you and desperately want you, but none of them can raise the courage to ask you out. They think that you are far too classy for them, and are terrified of you saying _'no'_ to them if they dared to ask you out on a date. So rather than taking the chance of looking like a fool in front of their classmates if you were to reject them, they never ask. They'd sooner live the dream, rather than take the chance of being crushed if you were to reject their advances…!"

Minako looked down at her feet. "Thank you for telling me this, Bunny-chan. And I really wish that one of them; _any_ one of them – within reason – would have asked me out before. But that doesn't matter any more. You telling me all of this doesn't…doesn't change the way that I feel about you, right now. I knew, last night, even if I couldn't admit it to myself just then, that winning your love is the most important thing in my life right now. So, if you're really, seriously asking me to be with you from now on, the answer is _'yes'!_"

Usagi's eyes filled with tears of happiness. "Minako-chan, I _am_ asking you – and my answer to your question is also _'yes'!_ I knew that you were lonely before, but now, if you'll have me - a clumsy, weak, cry-baby though I am - I promise that you'll never, ever be alone again…"

"Before I had even met you, when you were just Sailor V, you were my idol, my schoolgirl hero. And after you joined the sailor senshi, I came to realize just what a special person that you really are. I know that you will never hurt me, that you _could_ never hurt me. It took me so long to realize it, but I now know that I need your love, Minako-chan! Now that Mamo-kun is gone, I just can't survive without you any more…!"

Minako's already pounding heart almost went into overdrive with a mixture of uneasiness, joy and anticipation at Usagi's desire for her. And she couldn't help her own feelings either… She reached for her friend again and they hugged each other tight.

"Yes, Bunny-chan, I want your love, too. I want you next to me …I need to feel you against me at night…so, as of now – you and me, together?"

"_Minako-chan…! Yes! _Please, protect me and make me happy?"

"I will, Bunny-chan. I swear that I will…!"

"_Minako-chan…! I love you so much! Please, please, just hold me - make love to me…?"_

Minako took Usagi by her hand and led her to the room's foldout futon bed behind the table, upon which she had stacked her makeshift blankets. Quickly and without any further unnecessary talk, they took turns undressing the other's still uncertain and nervous, but eagerly trembling body, until they both were completely naked. Then, still cradled in each other's arms, breast-to-breast and kissing passionately, Minako lowered Usagi gently down onto their temporary bed and slid carefully down on top of her eagerly waiting, gorgeous, slender body.

Afterwards, Minako looked down on the peacefully sleeping face of her dear friend, and now – someone far more than merely that.

"Oh, Bunny-chan," she sighed to herself, despite feeling more joyful, more alive, than she had in days. "I love you so much – I would sacrifice my life for you, if needs be… But this will cause us both so many more complications than we would have otherwise had…! How will we ever let the others know about our just discovered love, and what will be their reaction towards us when they do find out…? Still, we _do_ truly love each other, and in the end, I guess that's all that really matters…?"

Sliding her head back down onto their shared pillow, Minako wrapped her arms around her new girlfriend, kissed Bunny gently on her cheek and promptly fell into a contented sleep.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Unknown to the two peacefully dozing sailor scouts, a _very_ wide-eyed Luna had accidentally seen all that had transpired between them in the room. But she had merely sat there on the top of the bookcase shelf where she had fallen asleep earlier and had not said a word as the drama had unfolded before her. Even though she was having great difficulty in believing the evidence of her own eyes and ears, Luna knew that it wasn't in the best interests of the two girls for her to interfere with their decision. Both had been through far too much pain and suffering during the past few days for her to bring to an embarrassed halt the love and happiness that Usagi and Minako were now both finding with each other.

"_Oh, my!"_ Luna gasped to herself, blushing furiously as the naked, love struck girls slipped into bed together. "This is _– awkward._ Time for me to get out of here – if it wasn't already that five minutes ago!"

Luckily, the top window of the door next to the shelf was open, allowing fresh air to circulate through the small room. Gathering herself, Luna silently launched her wiry body through the opening – to land squarely on Rei Hino's back as that worthy stared with open-mouthed shock and disbelief through the keyhole at Usagi and Minako's actions together in the room beyond!

"_Wha?! Luna!" _Reistammered, once she had got over her fright at the black cat's sudden impact on top of her. "Cripes, you just scared the living daylights out of me. But did you see? In there? _Bunny-chan and Minako-chan…? I can't believe what I-!"_

"It's none of our business, Rei," the red-faced Luna whispered urgently to the dumbfounded girl. "As much as we all might wish it to be otherwise, Mamoru is dead, now, and Usagi is all alone. She and Minako went through a lot together when they were prisoners of the yakuza, and if they have somehow found love with each other, then all we can reasonably do is to fully accept their mutual decision. Besides, we have a precedent here - Michiru and Haruka feel the same way about each other, and they are a couple, too, don't forget?"

"I know, Luna. I realise that this decision of theirs has nothing to do with me, or you or anyone else. _Boy,_ but who would've thought that _this _would happen between Minako-chan and Bunny-chan? I saw it, but it's still going to take me a lot of getting used to…!"

"It will be the same with me, and no doubt, Artemis, too. And we will just have to accept it, Rei. But what were you doing out here in the hall outside Minako's room, anyway?"

"Ah! Well, _um?_ I – I only got here a minute or two ago, and I was just about to knock and go in when I heard them both talking about, _um?_ Well, I overheard them confessing their love for each other, so I…I looked through the keyhole to make sure that I wasn't just hearing things, and then I saw them both _undressing and kissing and…you know?"_

"Yes, I understand," Luna gently replied, sympathizing with the furiously blushing girl kneeling next to her. "Yours was a perfectly logical response to what you just heard. I can scarcely believe it, myself! But maybe Usagi and Minako have the right idea, though – spending time with each other while they have the chance to…? It may very well be our last day alive tomorrow, Rei, so my advice to you is to go and spend some quality time with Yuichiro, while you still can. And I intend to do the same with Artemis and Diana. Am I making any sense to you?"

"Yes, Luna, you are," Rei admitted, blushing again at the thought of her boyfriend, now standing guard all alone on the ground floor of the building. "In fact, I'm going to go up there right now and - well, I think you know?"

"Tell you what, I'll bring Artemis upstairs with me in a few minutes and you two can come back down and catch some sleep, okay? We'll do a triple shift. Cats are much better guards at night, anyway."

"Gee, thanks, Luna! I'll go tell him now." Throwing a quick glance at the closed door to Minako's room, from behind which she and Luna could just hear from Usagi and Minako a succession of faint gasps of both encouragement to each other, and pleasure at what they were simultaneously doing to and receiving from each other's body, Rei quickly added, "I'll do it right now!"

_But why does the thought of Minako-chan and Usagi-chan in there making love, make me feel…not only anxious, but also…unhappy? …No…excited…? No! I…I'd best get out of here!_

"_Well?"_ Luna told herself as she walked off in the wake of the rapidly receding shape of Rei Hino to find Artemis and Diana. "Who said that life was boring? He certainly can't have been a cat!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

Luna finally found her partner on the first story of the building, by a window that offered him a good view of the neon-lit street outside. Padding over to Artemis, Luna acknowledged his greeting, then sat down at his side and looked at him with urgency in her eyes.

"I have to talk to you, Artemis. It's very important. You see, Usagi and Minako have just started a relationship."

"A relationship, Luna? What do you…mean…a-?"

"Yes, Slowcoach. _A physical relationship." _

"Are you _sure,_ Luna? That's – _surprising._ I didn't know that either of those two girls swung that way? And as you already know, I've known Minako for a long time…!"

"Oh, yes, I'm sure. I accidentally saw it all happen. And don't look so surprised, you old Prude – you'd be very surprised at just how many girls actually do have a relationship like this at least once in their life. But I'm also sure that this isn't just a fling, both Usagi and Minako really seem to be deeply in love with each other now. From what I heard, it really sounds to me as if they both badly want a long lasting relationship with each other."

"Well!" Artemis scratched his left ear with one hind paw. "Any idea of what brought this on…how it came about?"

"Yes, Artemis, I'm afraid that I do. You see, both girls are now suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – Usagi most of all. This isn't a comic book, Artemis, where the heroes just bounce back from any and all adversity with a laugh and a winning smile. Both Usagi and Minako are real people, with real emotions, and at the moment they've both been badly hurt – soul deep in fact…"

"That's only understandable, considering what they've just been through, what with Ami and Mamoru's deaths and their experience with the yakuza. Do you think that is part of the reason why they…?"

Luna sighed. "Maybe. _No, probably. _They shared a horrific experience together and it's brought them much closer emotionally to each other. Now they draw a deep sense of comfort from each other's presence, and that has quickly turned into love between them. And it may be for the best, too, Artemis – love is what they both desperately need in their lives right now. Their being together as a couple will help to heal their minds of their trauma much quicker than they would have otherwise, on their own."

Artemis sighed as well. This was just one more thing that he had to get used to, on top of everything else. "I agree. Their actions might seem – _strange_ – to us, but it's their decision. We have to just grin and accept it."

"You are correct, of course. But that's not all that's worrying me just now. We have another problem. Artemis, I think that Usagi might be…_pregnant."_

"_What? Pregnant?"_ Artemis did a double take in his surprise. "What makes you think that, Luna?"

"When I was next to her earlier, I felt a - _stirring._ Her life force has changed a bit. There is a new concentration of life energy in her, centered right about here…!" She poked Artemis in his side to illustrate the exact spot.

"_Ow!_ Well, I'll be damned! Does she know?"

"No, it's far too early for her to notice any symptoms yet. And we shouldn't tell her yet, either. She's got enough to deal with at the moment without that added worry!"

"I agree totally. That's what we'll do." Artemis then twisted his forehead into a frown. "_Hmmm?_ So who's the father? Mamoru? _Oh, no! I hope that it isn't the yakuza who…!?"_

"Relax, dear. I'm positive it is Mamoru because I believe that she's at least two weeks pregnant, as of now. If I'm correct, that means that Mamoru most definitely is the father, not one of the yakuza."

Luna thought for a moment and then added, "And that would explain why Chibiusa is still with us. If poor Mamoru really was killed three days ago like Rei saw in her fire reading, and Chibiusa left us for Crystal Tokyo on Saturday, one day ago, that would mean that Usagi is pregnant with Chibiusa right now, so she will exist in the future to come back to us."

"Whew! It's a little confusing, isn't it?" Artemis declared. "But that would also mean that future King Endymion doesn't exist in Crystal Tokyo at all now, and that Queen Serenity is a widow and is bringing up Chibiusa all by herself?"

"You are correct, I'm afraid," Luna agreed. "Poor Chibiusa, growing up without her father! All of our futures have been changed. And not for the better, I'm afraid…!"

At that moment, Diana flounced into the room, chasing after a big moth that had somehow managed to get into the building. Calling her over, Artemis and Luna sat her down and explained to her the new situation with regards to the relationship between Usagi and Minako.

All went well, until Luna accidentally mentioned that Usagi was pregnant.

"What's 'pregnant'?" Diana asked, staring up at her mother with curiosity.

"_Er, um,_ it's when a stork delivers a new baby to the parents' doorstep, Diana," Luna coughed. "Like when you arrived for us."

"I thought that we found Diana in my beer?" Artemis joked.

"Wow! I didn't know that two girls could have a baby with each other?" Diana gasped out with delight. "So Usagi-sama and Minako are having one together _already?_ But Haruka and Michiru have been dating for ages, and they haven't had-!"

"No, two girls can't have a baby together, not in that way," Luna stammered, a big bead of sweat forming on her head. "And Usagi's baby didn't come from Minako, it was sent from Mamoru."

"Mamoru-sama? But I thought you said that he died?" Diana wailed. "Do you mean that ghosts can hire storks to deliver babies only to parents that aren't both girls?"

Artemis rolled on the ground with laughter, as Luna's blush deepened into a bright scarlet!

"And since Usagi-sama and Minako _are_ both girls, shouldn't the baby be returned by the stork with a 'Return to Sender' sticker on it since they're both ineligible to have one?" Diana continued in a puzzled tone. "Mommy, why is Daddy laughing like that?"

"_Har! Ha, ha, ha, ha…! Out of the mouths of kittens…!"_

"_Artemis!"_ Luna snapped out, trying hard to regain her now flustered composure. _"Oh, good grief!_ No, Diana, sit down and I'll try to explain this to you again…!"


	19. Chapter 19

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER NINETEEN**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

It was just after four o'clock in the early hours of Monday morning, and for many of Juuban's blue clad finest, unexpected death and injury was about to descend from the black sky. In full stealth mode the yakuza death craft slid into position above the first of its target list of Juuban police stations, hovering unnoticed above the now quiet downtown road beside which its unsuspecting target was situated. With its black coloration and both radar and light-reflecting configuration, the war machine was totally invisible to any late night passers by down at ground level – which suited its makers just fine.

Once it was in position the _Shinigami_ projected a life sized, brightly lit hologram of a sailor scout into the air about one hundred meters in front of it. Then two weapons ports opened in its armored front. Next second, one after the other, a pair of Type 87 Chu-MAT laser guided missiles flamed down like meteorites into the building – the first through the rooftop, the second striking the ground floor level, just to the left of the main entrance!

Ignoring the fiery chaos that was unfolding below, the _Shinigami _sped off towards its next police target. Once that was destroyed, it would move on to the next, and the next and the next…

-:-:-:-:-:-

In her storage room hideaway under the overpass, Makoto Kino was only now beginning to stir. As she had groggily surmised on Saturday night, the effort of escaping from the National Medical Clinic had proved to be too much for her weakened constitution to handle. After collapsing in her refuge onto the pile of tarpaulins, she had lain in a healing coma for all of Sunday and Sunday night as well. Only now, after nearly thirty hours of uninterrupted sleep, had she finally awoken to the steady roar and rapid rhythmic drumming of the tyres of dozens of vehicles crossing the bridge overhead.

Squinting her eyes in the weak light cast from the small light bulb that was still burning on the ceiling, Makoto tried to move her stretched out arms from above her head into a more comfortable position, but they seemed to be unresponsive for some reason. Twisting slightly, she tried to move first one then the other of her legs, only to find out that they, too, had been similarly immobilized...

_Oh, my god! I've been tied up!!_

Twisting her head frantically backwards and forwards as she tried to find out what was going on, Makoto saw in wide eyed horror that she had also been stripped totally naked and her mouth had been gagged tightly as well!

_But how did this happen to me?_ She screamed silently to herself, eyes watering in helpless terror._ I locked the door, I'm sure of it! Unless…? Oh, no! Unless it was another youma who came through the wall and did this to me?!_

But, to her overwhelming relief, she appeared to be alone in the small room, at least for the moment. Once that she was absolutely sure of that fact, she managed to control her instinctive panic with a supreme effort of willpower and then quickly proceeded to try to find a way to free herself.

Giving an experimental tug at the restrains on her wrists, Makoto heard the rattle of steel links. Pulling at her feet produced a similar clanking sound.

_So I haven't been tied up with rope, he or they have used chains…! Thank god that I'm still Sailor Jupiter at the moment, I wasn't in my costume when I passed out, so maybe my attacker doesn't know that? But in my weakened state, even as Sailor Jupiter, do I have the strength left in me to break them and free myself…?_

Putting her thoughts to the test, Makoto pulled _hard_ at her restraints, only to give up as a wave of exhaustion swept over her.

_It's no good; I'm just too weak to bust them…_ _But – but why am I even still alive?_ Makoto wondered, forcing her brain to think. _If it were street punks or yakuza who did this to me, the reason why would be obvious? But a youma would just kill me, wouldn't it? Hey! Maybe it wasn't a youma who tied me up, after all? But if that were true, then how did my captor get into this locked room…?_

Makoto tried one final time to break the chains, gritting her teeth and sweat forming on her brow from her supreme effort, but once again the final result was the same.

_Kami-sama, I'm tired… I can barely keep my eyes open…Hey! That explains it! I was captured by a youma after all, and I'll bet that it has been feeding off my energy, draining me, and that is why I'm so weak, now? Damn it, I can't get free…!_

Tears sprang into the helpless girl's eyes. _I'm at its mercy…_she whimpered to herself, that horrifying realization sending icy cold shivers of terror through her body. _It can do whatever it wants to with me…and…and there's nothing that I can do to protect myself…! Or, is there…?_

Makoto's frightened eyes now held a glimmer of hope. She was still Sailor Jupiter after all, wasn't she? She had just noticed that the light bulb above her was still on, and if her restraints were made of steel as she suspected they were…?

_Of course…! Let the youma come back! I'll sure teach it a lesson for tying me up and stealing my energy for itself!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

Monday morning finally dawned and in her hidden basement level room under the Crown Game Center, Usagi awoke refreshed, having just had the best sleep that she had had in days. She languidly stretched out her naked, seductive body, yawned, and then slowly opened her eyes, to see…

"_Eeeek! What the heck? Where am I?"_ She gasped out, not recognizing her unfamiliar surroundings for a second. "This isn't my room at my house…? And it's not the room at the Fashion Health Club, either, thank god! _Oh?_ That's right, I'm at the Crown Game Center… I stayed here last night, with - _Wha-? Minako-chan?"_

"Good morning, sleepyhead," the also totally naked Minako smiled up at her wide–eyed friend sitting bolt upright on the makeshift bed next to her, Usagi's curtain blanket clasped protectively over her curvaceous bare breasts in shocked surprise.

Usagi slowly relaxed, her face quickly losing its stunned expression as she remembered the events of last night and finally realized just how and why she was here now in Minako's bed with her dear friend. Then with a happy sigh of relief, Usagi lay back down onto the folded out futon and closed her eyes, a smile spreading across her pretty face.

"_Wow._ So we really did it, eh, Minako-chan? I was afraid that last night was just some wild, happy, crazy dream…?"

"'Fraid not, Bunny-chan. We both popped the question to each other last night, and we both also said 'yes' to the other. And now – _voila!_ Here we are…?"

"So we're going out together now, Minako-chan? You and me? _For real?"_

"Yep! Too late for us to back out of it, now, Bunny-chan," Minako laughed at her, arms reaching above her gold crowned head and lazily stretching out her own perfectly proportioned figure on the rumpled blankets. "And I don't mind at all…!"

"And I don't care, either," Usagi giggled, enjoying the sinfully delicious sight of her dear girlfriend's beautiful, relaxed and carefree body, and also sounding far happier to the delighted and relieved Minako that she had in days. "This is what I want, Minako-chan, and I guess you still do, too, or else there'd be hell to pay right about now?"

Minako laughed again, then she rolled over and took Usagi in her wonderfully soft, warm and comforting arms once again. They kissed lovingly and passionately and then Minako released her happy friend, leant back and spoke up in a serious tone of voice.

"Well, I guess that it's about time that we got up and faced the music from the others? Do you want to tell them about us, or shall I…?"

Usagi gulped nervously. This was the one part that she had been dreading, the only drawback to their new relationship with each other. What their friends and guardians would have to say about it…!

"We do it together, at the same time, I guess…?" Usagi's timid voice trailed away into silence.

"Well, there's no point in postponing the inevitable?" Minako agreed, swinging her bare legs off the makeshift bed onto the floor, her lovely pink-nippled breasts bouncing gently as she stood up. "Let's get dressed, and then go and get it over and done with…?"

-:-:-:-:-:-

In Makoto's hidden dungeon under the busy road, the event for which the bound and seemingly helpless girl had been both anticipating and dreading suddenly occurred. The misshapen form of Zephyr the youma made his appearance, unexpectedly stepping silently through the closed door into the small, well-lit room. At the creature's sudden and soundless appearance, Makoto's shocked eyes jerked to face him and a stab of paralysing fear momentarily froze both her body and her mind.

_He's here! Ohmygod! This youma is huge…! Oh, help…?_

"Well, now," Zephyr declared loudly with gloating satisfaction to the terror stricken girl laying there, naked, bound and helpless on the heap of tarpaulins right there in front of him. _"__Wakey__, wakey, sailor girl!_ Guess who's coming to party with you now that you're awake?" The over two meter tall youma then stretched one knotty, stringy muscled red arm downwards and picked up a steel crowbar from the assortment of workmen's tools that were leaning against the concrete wall next to the doorway. "Now that you're out of your coma, let's just start off this little party with a bit of piñata, shall we? I'll bet that those long legs of yours have all manner of delicious pieces of marrow hidden away in them for the ants and cockroaches that will soon be arriving for your farewell feast? And if not…well, those smooth arms of yours will be ripe for their second helping!"

_He's going to smash my arms and legs!! Oh, god! Oh, god! But I can't lose it now, I have to calm myself and do this! Don't panic, don't panic, Makoto, you can do this…!_

Beads of sweat streamed from Makoto's forehead at his cruel and brutal intentions. But she forced herself to keep concentrating on her desperate task. She would only get one shot at her plan, and there was zero room for error. The terrified girl knew all too well what the stakes were with her desperate gambit. If she failed, her death was going to be a long, messy and excruciatingly painful one…!

"You can try to resist me if you want to," the creature told her with relish, hefting up the deadly metal club. "Your struggles will just make it all the more satisfying. But don't think that you can bust those chains; I've been keeping you well and truly drained of your delicious energy against just that eventuality. Heh! In fact, my pretty, I'm surprised that you even have the energy left to open your eyes?"

_T-that crowbar he's holding is made of m-metal,_ Makoto told herself, nearly blinded by her involuntary tears, but still managing to mentally visualize a connection between herself, the crowbar and the light socket above her head. _Oh, help, he's coming closer?! I can do this…just a little closer…he's raising up the crowbar over his head…perfect! One more step…just one more?!_

"_Batter up,"_ Zephyr cackled evilly, savoring every last moment of his revenge as he raised the heavy crowbar up high above her legs – right next to the glowing light bulb. _"Strike-!"_

_Now!!_

Using her Sailor Jupiter power of control over electricity, Makoto pulled at the stream of electrons flowing through the light bulb with the power of her mind. Unable to use her tightly bound hands to control the direction of the power discharge, Makoto instead had to rely on the natural inclination of the electricity to choose the path of least resistance down into her staked out form. The bulb exploded with a loud bang as the lethal current was re-routed from out of the socket, flowing down in a flickering purplish white stream through the steel crowbar, the youma's gangly body and the steel chains that bound Makoto, and finally into her own stretched out body!

Taken totally by surprise, the youma had no time to turn intangible, teleport away, or otherwise try to evade the sudden power discharge. Totally paralysed by the savage current, his frozen body stood there helplessly, twitching violently from the multiple shocks, smoke already pouring from his hands, his head and his eye sockets!

_Yes!!_ Makoto shouted to herself. _It worked! And my strength is back!_

The heavy chains snapped like cotton thread as the naked girl tore herself free from her restraints and scrambled back to her feet. With her hands finally free, she intensified the strength of the flickering current, pouring her own reserves of electricity into the hideous youma as well. Unable to escape, fight back or even talk, Zephyr dissolved away into ash and smoke until there was nothing left except for the crowbar, which dropped out of his vaporizing hand and clattered loudly onto the scorched concrete floor of the small room.

And then it was over. Of the terrifying youma that had imprisoned her, there was nothing left except for a few small ashy fragments on the floor and an acrid cloud of choking smoke swirling through the room.

"_Hah, ha, ha, ha! I got you…I got you, you bastard!!"_ Sailor Jupiter whooped out to herself, laughing and crying hysterically with a combination of joy, overwhelming relief at her _very_ narrow escape from a singularly unpleasant death, and gleeful satisfaction at the success of her plan. Quickly she switched off the power flow and the room abruptly fell into pitch-blackness. _"It worked, oh my god, it actually worked?!"_

The sudden rush of exhilaration was too much for the weakened, injured sailor scout. Makoto's euphoric mind abruptly blanked out from over stimulation, and she crumpled back down onto the makeshift bed again, her overstressed body seeking the healing solace of nothingness once more.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Back in the Crown Game Center, the awkward and embarrassing event that Usagi and Minako both feared didn't even come to pass. As both girls walked apprehensively, hand in hand, into the meeting room, Rei Hino, with a nervous smile of her own on her face, beat them both to the punch by coming up to congratulate Usagi and Minako on their newfound relationship.

"_Ah…!_ Usagi-chan, Minako-chan, congratulations, I guess? _Um,_ I…well, best wishes for you both with each other…!"

"Rei-chan, _you know already?"_

"_How?"_

"Well…let's just say that I had a flash premonition last night…? _Um,_ _ah_…don't worry, guys, I approve – _really -_ and I'll support you both, I promise...!"

"Gee, thanks, Rei-chan," Usagi beamed, flashing Minako a look of relief and receiving one in return. "We were terrified about what you might say when you found out – let alone what Luna and Artemis are going to say to us!"

"They – _ah!_ - know, too. So do Diana and Yuichiro-kun. No, don't look at me like that, we all intend to support you two, okay? It's your decision, and we're all happy for you both, but just give me in particular a little time to get used to it, please?"

Minako and Usagi laughed nervously, but also with absolute relief, at Rei's words, then they both stepped forward and embraced their raven-haired friend.

"_Thank you, Rei-chan,"_ Minako whispered, her eyes full of tears. "This changes nothing between us three, okay? And Mako-chan, too. We're still all best friends and that's how it's going to stay!"

"I know," Rei sniffed back. "You two and Mako-chan are irreplaceable to me… I just wish that Ami-chan was still here with us this morning to share in this moment, too…?"

"Pity she wasn't here with us right now, we could do with all the help that we can get," Luna emphasized, jumping up onto the table nearest to the happy three. "We're losing this war quite badly, you know? Oh…! By the way, congratulations."

"Thank you, Luna," Minako and Usagi said, still a trifle nervously.

"The same goes for me," Artemis added, appearing on the floor next to the two girls. "I hope that you two will be very happy together."

"Me, too," Diana squeaked from next to him.

"Thanks, Artemis, Diana," Minako smiled down at them. "I was hoping that you'd understand."

"We will be, I'm sure of that," Usagi added. "Thank you. Thank you all for being so understanding."

"Well?" Luna said. "Let's get on with it, shall we?"

"Luna's right," Artemis confirmed, leaping up next to her and then sitting down. He gestured and his small computer materialized out of thin air onto the tabletop next to him. "Despite our decisive victory against the _Oni_ demons last night, we're still well outnumbered by the yakuza, and god knows how many more youma, too? But we do have one piece of good news – our communications seem to be back up, again. So your wristwatch communicators are all go, as of now!"

"Excellent! But how could they suddenly just start working again like that?" Rei wanted to know. "Unless you managed to somehow compensate for the jamming, Artemis?"

"No, I didn't," he replied, looking as puzzled as she did. "When I tested them out only a minute or two ago, the static had just gone, all by itself. Maybe something happened last night to correct the fault that none of us know about yet…?"

As the unconscious Makoto could have told him, that statement of his was actually true.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Unknown to Artemis, he and his task force now only had one set of enemies to worry about. The _Oni_ demons had been completely wiped out last night, and with the stunning success of the hastily improvised trap that Sailor Jupiter had devised, the demise of Zephyr had totally eliminated the latest youma threat as well. That only left the Black Cap yakuza for the remaining sailor scouts to contend with – and as the two cats were only too aware, they could prove to be as lethal a set of adversaries as any of the others that the sailor senshi had ever fought.

Having finished its last attack run while it was still dark, the yakuza _Shinigami_ death craft was now well hidden in a barn in the forested mountains to the east of the city. There it would wait until the concealing darkness of Monday night had fallen. Then it would emerge once again under the cloak of blackness and shadow to resume its mission of revenge against the unsuspecting sailor senshi.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Now, with regards to planning our next move, all that we have really been doing up until now has been reacting to our enemies moves," Luna lectured the girls. "That's bad tactics, and doing so gives the yakuza the initiative. We need to take the offensive and take the fight to them, instead of the other way around." The black cat paused and turned to her partner. "Artemis?"

"Thanks, Luna. So this is our plan of action for tonight. Our attack will commence at zero twenty two hundred hours - Ten pm. We will split up into two fire teams, Team One – Codename 'Fire One' - will consist of Sailor Mars and Yuichiro – they seem to work really well together. Their mission will be to take out the 'Happy Hour' bar, the local headquarters of the Black cap yakuza. Burn it to the ground, and then head for the first of this list of yakuza safe houses that I have compiled. Luna?"

After Luna had passed the list to Sailor Mars, Artemis continued. "All of those targets are no more than five or ten minutes apart, so you should be able to take them out in a fairly short period of time. Once every target has been destroyed, Rei, you and Yuichiro are to rendezvous with Team Two at Eleven pm at Arisugawa Park, near the main entrance, right here." His paw stabbed down at a location on the big map. "We'll have transportation waiting for you there, as well."

"Team Two will consist of Sailor Moon and Sailor V. Codename 'Gold One'. Their job will be to go after the yakuza safe houses here, here and here. Also-!" he took a deep breath, "I have received confirmation that the cause of most of our troubles, Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda and his close friends are presently at this location, here, the first of those three safe houses. Your job is also to – well, I think that you know?"

"_All right!"_ Minako enthused with grim satisfaction. _"At last! _He's going to pay for what he did to us, and especially to you, Bunny-chan!"

"Good," Usagi agreed, and meant it. "I'll feel a lot safer with him gone for good!"

"After you have completed your tasks, you will meet up with the others at the indicated location and Yuichiro will drive us safely out of sight in the vehicle, back to here."

"Any questions, girls?" Luna asked, after passing their target list to Minako, whom was now scrutinising it carefully and eagerly.

"Yeah, just one thing," Minako said, just now remembering a fact of vital importance to her and her ability to fight effectively. "My Sailor V Crescent compact got destroyed by a bullet last night. Do you have a spare…?"

"Right here, Minako," Artemis confirmed, materializing the object onto the tabletop right next to her. "I always carry one of two other ones in storage just in case something like this happens."

"Thanks, Artemis! You're a pal!"

"Anything else you need, Minako?"

"Not at the moment," she replied, grabbing up the compact and staring at it with delight. "Rei-chan? Anything to add?"

"No, except that I'm looking forward to tonight," Sailor Mars declared, thumping her right fist into the palm of her left hand. "They burn down _my_ home, I burn down _theirs!"_

"Usagi?" Luna asked, looking to where the blue-eyed girl was fidgeting and looking optimistically at her for some strange reason. "You have something to ask? A _sensible_ question, maybe?"

"Yes, Luna, and just one. Everything's all set for tonight, but what are we all going to do to fill in the rest of today? Are we just going to hang around down here until it gets dark?" A hopeful timbre crept into her voice as she asked this. _Please say 'yes',_ she pleaded silently to her cat._ Please say 'yes', oh, please say 'yes'…?_

"Actually, yes," Luna replied, a smile on her face as she saw Usagi's hopeful expression change into one of joy as her hoped for answer just made the sailor scout of the moon's day. "It's far to dangerous for you girls to be seen out on the streets, now, unless you use your disguise pens. So you might as well all have the rest of the day off to relax and have a bit of fun for a while, _down here and out of sight, only,_ mind you! It will do you all good to unwind a bit, especially after what has happened to you all over the last few days."

"Yay! Some time off!" Usagi beamed, throwing a suggestive glance at Minako, whom returned the sly look. "We can read manga, and play games, and eat and sleep and…_um?_ …Other things…!"

"But no rest for Luna and myself, though," Artemis added. "We are both going to be busy monitoring the news channels, the Internet, and also searching for Makoto. She can't have just vanished, so as soon as we get a lead on her whereabouts we'll bring her back here as fast as we can."

"Hey, now that our communicators are working again, can't we contact Mako-chan that way?" Rei exclaimed, a hopeful look in her eyes. "I _know_ that she's still alive, I can feel it!"

"I've tried that already, but so far, no dice," came his answer. "But that's no reason for us to worry too much, though. The most probable reason for her lack of response is she's probably out of range of us at the moment. I'll give it another shot a little later on."

"Okay, girls, if you have no more questions, _shoo!"_ Luna told them. "Artemis and I have a lot of work to do!"

"You don't have to tell _me_ twice," Usagi laughed, seizing Minako's hand as she headed for the door. "C'mon, guys, let's hit our rooms for a bit more…_sleep."_

-:-:-:-:-:-

But the peaceful day anticipated by the sailor scouts and their guardians was not to come to pass. Only half an hour or so after having dismissed the girls, Luna happened to turn on the big screen TV in the room to catch the nine o'clock news, hoping to be able to glean some clues as to the yakuza's intentions from any relevant news reports. Instead, she saw scenes of utter chaos!

…_Eyewitness reports from not only civilian witnesses, but also surviving police officers, indicate the presence of at least one of the sailor senshi hovering overhead at the site of each badly damaged or destroyed police station. Several of these witnesses have claimed that the attacks have been carried out by the sailor senshi, themselves, and the first hurried analysis of the patterns of impact damage on the first buildings to be destroyed do indeed seem to bear this rather startling theory out! As to why the sailor senshi are attacking the police stations is as yet unknown, but the Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission and the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency have only a few minutes ago jointly declared a state of civil emergency in Azabu-Juuban! The total number of police casualties, whilst unknown at the present due to the confused situation and the ongoing attacks on the law enforcement facilities, is expected to be very heavy…!_

_At this time, the sailor senshi have been officially declared an illegal armed terrorist organization, and warrants are being sworn out for the arrest of any and all of their members. The general public are being urged not to approach or render any aid of any kind to said members, and all sightings of them are to be reported immediately to the relevant authorities…!_

"_What in the heck is going on?"_ Artemis asked Luna, alternating his disbelieving gaze between her, the big screen TV and his computer keyboard on which he was frantically typing. "We're not responsible for those attacks last night – the girls were all here asleep in their rooms when they were carried out! Well, that burning warehouse that we saw was the work of Sailor Mars and Yuichiro, all right, but those attacks on the Juuban Police Stations – _no way!"_

"This is obviously a devious plot to discredit us, Artemis," Luna answered, no less disturbed than he was by the ramifications of what she was seeing. "The yakuza are obviously behind it and it's not hard to see why. If both the yakuza _and_ the police are after us, we'll have no chance at all of winning this fight! Even if we do manage to beat the yakuza, we can't fight against the police, for obvious reasons. And eventually the girls will all get captured by them, put on trial for treason and be incarcerated – or even executed!"

"Go and get the others," Artemis said. "If it _is_ the yakuza or even the youma framing us for these terrible attacks, then we have to get out there and put a stop to it, right now, before our reputation is destroyed for good!"


	20. Chapter 20

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER TWENTY**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

As soon as they had received their instructions for tonight, Usagi and Minako went back to Minako's temporary room, Rei trailing along behind the happy couple and feeling very much like the third wheel. But to her surprise, once the pair had reached the door, both blondes looked back and invited the dark haired girl to come inside with them.

"C'mon, Rei-chan?" Usagi begged Rei at her obvious hesitation at accepting their offer. "We three haven't hung out for ages! You can't just go off by yourself now?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Minako asked her anxiously. "Don't you want to hang out with us? Or do you want to go and spend time with Yuichiro-kun – is that it?"

"N-no, it's nothing like that, guys," Rei hurriedly told them, not really knowing what to do or say. _"Honestly._ It's just that I - _err – ah…? _Don't…don't you two want to be…alone, or something…?_"_

"Bunny-chan and I have plenty of time to do that, today," Minako assured her. "But right now, we both just want to chat and have a laugh with you. Why don't you want to join in with us?"

"It's not that, I do…!"

"Well, let's go, then?" Usagi demanded. "After you, Rei-chan?"

"Err…? Are you _sure_ that you don't mind me being in here with you two?" Rei nervously asked her two companions, fidgeting uneasily once the trio were inside the room with the door closed behind them. "I mean…well, that is…? What if you two want to…I mean, _um?"_

"Oh, Rei-chan, it's fine," Minako laughed, giving her anxious friend a cuddle. "Just because Bunny-chan and myself are now…_involved_… it doesn't mean that we don't want you to hang out with us!"

"That's right, Rei-chan," Usagi agreed, grabbing Rei's right hand and pulling her down onto the makeshift bed next to her. _"Sit!"_

"_Ooof!"_ Rei gasped out as her butt bounced onto the futon.

"That's better. Now, _relax,"_ Usagi ordered her, flopping backwards onto the bed next to her slightly stunned looking friend. "Take a load off. Good! Now, what shall we talk about, guys?"

"_Guys!"_ Minako burst out, her bright blue eyes filling with stars as she lay down on the other side of Rei. "Hunky ones!" she emphasized.

"_Yeah!"_ Usagi agreed, clutching her fingers up under her chin, assuming a similar expression to the one now on her blonde haired friends face. "So, who do you think is the hunkiest? Motoki-san who works upstairs here, or Ken–san from Room Four at school?"

"_What?"_ Rei exclaimed, looking from one to the other in astonishment. "But I thought that you two – _ah!_ That you weren't interested in guys anymore, because…well, _because!"_

"That's dumb!" Usagi laughed at her, joined by Minako. "Just because Minako-chan and I are partners now, doesn't mean that we both still don't like or want boyfriends, too, Rei-chan! We're both still healthy teenage girls, you know?"

"_Um, err_…o-okay, Bunny-chan…" Rei stammered, face red through embarrassment. "I didn't know…I mean, I wasn't sure anymore about what – how you two still felt about guys, that's all…! So…you both still like boys, too, the same as always…?"

"_Yes, Rei-chan,"_ Usagi and Minako chorused. "We do!"

"Oh, I'm sorry…! _My bad._ I didn't mean to embarrass you both, honestly…!"

"Don't worry about it, Rei-chan," Minako assured her with a warm smile. "We're both exactly the same as we always were, except for the fact that we like each other that way, too. There's no need for you to feel scared or nervous around us, and so you feel free to discuss boys with us just like we always have. Okay?" She punched her friend lightly on her upper arm for emphasis. _"Okay?"_

"Please just treat us just like normal, Rei-chan," Usagi added. "We're still us!"

"Okay. Okay, sure," Rei replied, slowly losing her tenseness. The raven-haired girl managed a laugh, and then said, _"Guys, huh?_ Right! Maybe…? Oh, what the heck? Maybe you two can help me out with how I'm feeling about Yuichiro-kun? I really_, really_ like him, and…!"

And so it went on, exactly like it had been before.

-:-:-:-:-:-

At about this time, _Oyabun_ Takao Tanaka and _Saiko Komon_ Toshio Ito were just concluding their own meeting with _Shateigashira _Sadao Fujimori at his headquarters at the 'Happy Hour' bar. Despite being far from happy at the losses of manpower that they had suffered over the last couple of days, the three leaders had decided to make the most of a bad situation and take their golden chance to eliminate the sailor senshi entirely, now that they had them well and truly on the run. Furthermore, with the _Shinigami_ airborne and currently in hiding within easy strike distance of Juuban, the yakuza now possessed the ability to attack and destroy their sailor-suited enemies without it looking to the police like they were even involved in the first place.

"Toshio-san, when we are finished here, it would be best if you were to go back to Main Headquarters at Yasukuni Dori Avenue in Kabukicho. You can co-ordinate the rest of our enterprises from there whilst I am presently engaged with our little problem."

"Hai, _Oyabun_-sama. I will leave as soon as this meeting is concluded."

"Excellent. Sadao-san, you will pull all of our men off the streets and into the safe houses, as of now. The _Shinigami_ has succeeded quite well with turning the full force of the Tokyo police against these annoying sailor senshi girls. If the sailor senshi resurface anywhere within our reach, the _Shinigami_ will attack and wipe out their miserable remnants permanently. If not, let the remaining forces of Law and Order track them down, take all of the risks and do our fighting for us. I am not willing to risk any more exposure of our organization in this affair. We have lost enough men, money and infrastructure as it is, for very little beneficial result."

"Hai, _Oyabun_-sama,"_ Shateigashira _Fujimori replied with a bow. "It will be done as you have ordered."

"Once we have discovered the whereabouts of the sailor senshi, I will be taking to the field myself. I have a personal score to settle with them – and I have just the equipment to do it with, right here at my disposal. They will not live to regret the day that they started this war with us, of that you have my word as _Oyabun."_

-:-:-:-:-:-

"So, that's the situation as we see it," Luna told the sober circle of girls, back in the war room at the Crown Game Center. "Something is attacking the police stations all over Juuban and blaming it on us. And we've got to put a stop to it!"

"I have to identify just who it is responsible, and exactly how it is that they're doing it," Artemis continued. "From the information that I've so far been able to gather, there must be some sort of an armed flying machine responsible for these attacks. The damage seems to follow a pattern from the south of Juuban to the north, and judging from the estimated time of each separate attack, only a flying machine – or maybe a number of youma working together - could have caused such a rapid succession of destruction in such a short time frame."

"So who do you think is really responsible for these attacks then, guys?" Rei asked, in a very worried tone. "The yakuza or the youma?"

"We're sure that it's the yakuza," Luna replied. "They have obviously deployed an aerial unit of some sort to do it. And as to why we think this, something is projecting a hologram of a sailor-suited figure into the air above each target just before they destroy it. No youma would or could do that – not that we know of, anyway. Furthermore, such a visual deception requires advanced technology, which in turn requires money. So my bet is on the yakuza somehow being responsible."

"I think so, too. And since they have been taking quite a licking from us over the last day or so, the yakuza have all of the reason in the world to convince the authorities that we are the bad guys, and to get the police and the army to do their fighting for them," Artemis added. "This way, they just need to sit back and watch the fireworks, with no further risk to themselves or their profits. And once that we are all out of the way and the fuss here has died down, they just start up operations again, free from our interference."

"_That blows, Artemis,"_ Minako yelled out, leaning forward angrily and banging her right fist down hard on the tabletop. "We're supposed to be the good guys here! And they're framing us to make it look like we're to blame for all of this destruction! It's not fair!"

"_Yeah,"_ Rei agreed, no less annoyed by the slur on their good name. "So what are we going to do about it?!"

"I need to discover the location of their flying machine first. After we have that information, we'll go straight out after it and shoot it down. Then, once they have the wreckage as irrefutable evidence, the police will see that it wasn't us to blame for all of those horrible attacks on them last night."

"So we've all got to just sit around and twiddle our thumbs until you manage to track that thing down, then?" Usagi wanted to know.

"Yes, that's right," Luna said firmly. "Don't worry, we'll inform you the second that we manage to find it. Then you all go out there and bring it down – reasonably intact if possible – so that the police can work out for themselves who's responsible for this outrage."

"But what about our attacks against the yakuza planned for tonight, then?" Minako asked. "Are they still on, or what?"

"As of the moment, yes," Luna told her. "But if we do pinpoint the location of the yakuza machine, destroying that first must be our number one priority!"

"All right, now you know all that we do," Artemis said. "I suggest that you girls go and resume your break, but be prepared to move out at a moment's notice. Okay?"

"Gotcha, Artemis," Minako sighed. "This news has kinda put a damper on our relaxation, though…!"

Once the three girls and Yuichiro had left the war room once again, Artemis turned to Luna, a grim look in his blue eyes.

"I'm worried," he admitted. "A machine as advanced as this one would have to be, may be a real handful for the sailor scouts to destroy. I hope that they can somehow find a way to bring it down, or else we're finished here in Japan. It's our only proof that we're not responsible for destroying those police stations! If we can't find it, or fail to shoot it down, then we'll have no choice but to flee the country with the girls and Yuichiro and set up again in some other country where we're not known. Or maybe even retreat to the thirtieth century – if it still exists in its present form after this disaster has finished playing itself out and we can somehow find a way to get there?"

"I really hope that it doesn't come to that, Artemis," Luna replied, an uncomfortable look in her red eyes. "The girls have families and friends here – the stress of having to flee as fugitives and leave their whole lives behind, maybe forever, will be a really big shock to them all, especially to Usagi. And I think that she's already suffered enough over the past few days."

"I know, Luna. Fortunately it hasn't come to that, yet. But we've _got _to locate that machine or that scenario could easily come to pass!"

"And then we have to figure out a way to destroy it – but not totally, unless we absolutely have to," Luna pointed out. "The more of the flying machine that's left intact for the scientists to examine, the greater our chances are of being exonerated of its deeds."

"Do you think that the scouts are up to doing that? Do their combined attacks have enough precision to merely disable the yakuza machine and bring it down without it blowing up totally?"

"Yes, I really think that they do. With our training, they all – including Usagi – are now actually quite an effective strike unit. Lord knows, they've had enough practise now to sharpen their skills!"

"We're going to have to become a lot more effective combatants, ourselves, Luna," Artemis stated with steely determination in his voice. "With only the two of us here to protect the girls, and no moon kingdom technology or thirty first century technology here to speak of for us to fall back on in an emergency, we're pretty exposed. I'm going to have to try to devise some sort of combat capability for us with weapons and equipment from this time, so that we can actually fight out in the field, for, with, and as well as the girls."

"Yes, we _should_ become more combat effective," Luna agreed. "You're a master strategist and technician, I'm a good tactician and combat advisor, but sometimes that just isn't enough. We _do_ really need the necessary firepower at our disposal to be able to help the sailor scouts out in a pinch, as well."

"It won't be easy coming up with really formidable and effective combat equipment for us with the little that I've got to work with here, in the present time," Artemis grumbled. "I've hardly got any moon kingdom technology at my disposal. And since I can't contact the thirtieth century for military technology from the future, either, what I really need to find is a competent earth technician or two, whom have a good supply of expertise and munitions at hand to help me out with what I _have_ got."

Little did Artemis know then, but he would one day, soon, achieve his wish for both useful spare parts of a military nature and an eager helper. And it would come from a most unexpected source.

"What I also would like to know is where in the heck are the outer senshi? They should have arrived back here from the thirtieth century by now. And with that yakuza flying machine to find and destroy, we could sure do with their help, _right now."_

"I'm sure that they're coming, Artemis," Luna said. "Knowing Sailor Pluto, she'll have some sort of a plan to help us all out of this mess. We just have to be patient."

"You're right, Luna." He sighed. "But since they could show up at any time, now, we'd best keep on our toes and look for any sign of their arrival, as well as try to find that flying machine."

"Right then, let's get back to work," Luna stated. "I'll keep watching the news channels for clues, you carry on surfing the Internet and see if you can tap into any wide angle security cameras or anomalous radar data that might help us out."

"And if we can't find it? And the outer senshi _don't_ come back?"

"Then we take a leaf out of Rei's book, and _pray."_

-:-:-:-:-:-

In spite of Artemis and Luna's best efforts to track down the hidden location of the yakuza flying machine, night had fallen again before that essential task had been completed. Nor had they managed to find any trace of Sailor Jupiter, or the four outer senshi. So, at a quarter to Ten on Monday night, the remaining sailor scouts and their guardians prepared to take to the field and deal their yakuza enemies what the cats hoped would be a telling – if not crippling – blow to their local command center and secondary bases of operation, their leadership, and the member most responsible for igniting this bitter struggle - Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda.

"All right, Luna and I have made a couple of adjustments to our plan of action for tonight, for safeties sake," Artemis informed the girls and Yuichiro. "The basic plan of attack that we detailed to you this morning is unchanged. However, we have decided that it will be easier and safer for us all to sailor-teleport out of here into the area, and then back to the Crown Game Center from Arisugawa Park afterwards. That way, the enemy will have no possible way of following our movements. Since Luna, Diana and I will also now be accompanying you all on this mission, there are plenty of us here to teleport back afterwards, even if we do suffer some unfortunate – _casualties."_

"_You guys are coming, too?"_ Sailor Moon asked in disbelief. "But it could be very dangerous! With our communicators working again, wouldn't it be far safer for you three to remain here – especially Diana?"

"Yes, Usagi," Luna said firmly. "Artemis and I decided that we, too, need a little more mission time – to keep us both on our toes, so to speak. And there's nothing like being right there on the spot to make snap tactical decisions if needs be. Furthermore, if the yakuza flying machine does show up, we can all teleport together to its location and then Artemis and I can analyze it and find its weak spots – if it has any. You might need our data to help destroy it."

"Okay, fair enough. But what about Diana?" Sailor V wanted to know. "Isn't she a little too – _ah?_ Tiny, to be accompanying us?"

"_Hey!"_ Diana squeaked with indignation. "I rescued Sailor Moon-sama, remember?"

"She's accompanying us just in case something goes wrong with our plans and there isn't enough of us left to teleport back here without her help. Diana possesses the ability to sailor-teleport already, you see? So she's going to be coming with us as a safety precaution, and also just in case we have to leave Tokyo in a hurry, straight after this mission, without us going back to the Game Center first."

"That makes sense," Sailor V sighed. "Welcome aboard, Diana."

"Thank you, Sailor V-sama," Diana responded politely, and with a noticeable trace of youthful enthusiasm in her tiny voice.

"Just remember, it is imperative that you all stay hidden until you can carry out your attacks," Artemis warned them. "If the police find you before we can strike, then it's all over!"

"Okay, sailor scouts, everybody join hands and we're off," Luna said. "Prepare to sailor-teleport into the alley next to Naru Osaka's mother's jewellery store. That shop is centrally located and directly adjacent to most of our yakuza targets."

_Ah, my friend Naru-chan?_ Usagi thought to herself as she knelt down beside Minako and grasped her hand in preparation for the teleport. _I miss seeing you, and yes, even Umino-san, too… Will I ever see you and him ever again…? I hope so…?_

"We're ready, Artemis," Rei exclaimed, jumping up from her seat and moving forward. "Yuichiro, let's go!"

"Ready whenever you are, Babe," he replied, shouldering the well used bazooka and striding into the circle after her. "Mayhem time!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

The sailor-teleport went off without a hitch and the little combat group all arrived safely at their destination. Once the sailor scouts and their helpers were sure that the coast was clear, they split up as per the plan into the two strike groups, each one setting off on their separate missions.

Sailor Mars and Yuichiro made their way cautiously towards their primary target, the 'Happy Hour' bar. Fortunately, the streets of Juuban were nearly deserted at that time of night, with only the occasional car or two driving down the road that they were on, so a combination of the darkness and Rei's disguise pen enabled the pair to reach their destination unnoticed. For their mission, Rei had turned herself into an ordinary shopper wearing a long, hooded coat, Yuichiro into a bespectacled student, and his bazooka was disguised as a large roll of carpet.

Once they were sure that their presence was totally unsuspected by the occupants of the well illuminated bar – which for once seemed to be closed – Rei and Yuichiro slipped off the street into the small park on the left hand boundary of the building. Once in the concealment of the bushes, Yuichiro quickly unwrapped his primary weapon, Rei loading it for him from his ammunition backpack that he had placed a safe distance away from any possible back blast.

"Right, I'm all set," he told his attractive companion. "It sure is a stroke of luck for us that the bar is closed tonight. Now, no innocent customers are going to get caught up inside it when we blow the building to hell and gone."

"Yeah, lucky!" Rei replied, transforming back into Sailor Mars. "I was really worried that we would have to hold back because of any civilians inside, but now I don't have that problem. I'm ready, Yuichiro-kun. Let's do this!"

"All right, Rei-babe. Step back! I'll put a shell through the main doors, you open fire through the bar room windows. That should keep the yakuza's heads down and them off balance for long enough for you to get a decent sized fire started in there. Once it's out of control, there's no possible way that they're going to be able to put it out and save their building either."

"Gotcha! I'm looking forward to-_hey!_ Oh, no, it's starting to rain!"

Rei Hino wasn't wrong. Even as the pair stared upwards with dismay into the dark night at the hard to see black cloud that had unexpectedly appeared over the building, the huge raindrops splashing down upon them in their leafy cover intensified into a watery torrent.

"Oh, darn!" Sailor Mars yelled out, slapping both of her white gloved hands down over the top of her head in an effort to keep the water out of her eyes. "This shower will reduce the effect of my-!"

What she was about to say next was totally drowned out by the deafening crash of a huge energy discharge that lanced down from the ominous black cloud, directly into the roof of the 'Happy Hour' bar! With the rumble and crack of collapsing masonry and splintering wood, the whole building began to cave in upon itself, whole floors disintegrating and falling away under the stream of violet white energy beaming down from a solitary pinpoint in the angry sky.

"What in the heck is going on?!" Yuichiro hollered out incredulously, lowering the bazooka from its firing position on his shoulder and taking an involuntary step backwards at the sight through the curtain of falling rain of their target crumbling away into ruin under the devastating attack from above. "They're under attack by someone else. Look!"

Squinting up in the direction of his pointed finger, Sailor Mars thought that she saw a dim black figure high above the building, riding the whirling air currents in the midst of the strange black cloud.

_Is that someone else up there helping us? Could it be…?_

Just then gunshots began to ring out, jolting Rei's confused mind back to what was happening at ground level once again. A number of yakuza had appeared outside the ruins of their building, firing upwards into the belly of the storm towards the source of the fierce energy blast, just as the heavy shower of rain slackened off and then stopped entirely.

Yuichiro took rapid advantage of their enemies' appearance. The bazooka spat flame and the shell sped unerringly into the midst of the gunmen, blasting them, with a loud _'Whoomph'_ and flash of flame, into the air like rag dolls!

"_Go, Babe!"_ he yelled out. "Toast the remains of the bar and then let's get outta here!"

Sailor Mars needed no further urging. Seeing the mess made of their primary target and the remaining yakuza in disarray was all the incentive that she needed. Raising up her hands, she leaped forward from the cover of the tree trunk that she had been sheltering behind – straight into a bullet that smashed into her upper left shoulder! Sailor Mars staggered back against the rough wood, right hand clutching at her painful wound.

"_Damn it! I'm hit!"_

"_Rei-chan!_ Are you-?"

"I'll be fine," she told him, eyes watering and gritting her teeth against the pain. _Boy, that's going to leave a bruise…! _She thought to herself, then forced her injury to the back of her mind. _Snap out of it, Rei! Just do it!_

"_Fire Soul Bird!"_

A sheet of living flame spiraled away from her outstretched hands, to settle like a blanket over the tumbled ruins of the 'Happy Hour' bar. For a moment or two, the rain soaked wreckage resisted ignition, but then a gas leak erupted into a geyser of yellow fire, quickly followed by pieces of shattered, dryer wood from deeper inside the ruin. In less than twenty seconds, the entire collapsed three-story structure was blazing away merrily, starkly illuminating the chaotic scene before the two well satisfied avengers.

"That's done the trick, Yuichiro-kun," Sailor Mars yelled with delight to her boyfriend, her pain from the bullet wound momentarily forgotten in the euphoria of the moment, and her excited voice clear to him even over the panicked shouts and screams coming from the direction of the roaring blaze. "Follow me! We're still got two more targets to fry before we go back to the Crown, and then we'll all party hard to celebrate!"

_Not as hard as I'll celebrate when I finally win your hand, Rei-babe, _Yuichiro thought to himself as he followed the eager girl back through the park to the opposing street. _Now, that'll be a party to remember…!_


	21. Chapter 21

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Twenty minutes after the destruction of the 'Happy Hour' bar, Artemis, Luna, Diana, Sailor Moon and Sailor V were making their way carefully towards their final target. Their first two attacks on the yakuza safe-houses had gone off without a hitch – both buildings had been destroyed and their adversaries put to flight, and all without a single casualty amongst them. It was a testament to the planning skills of their two cat guardians that things had gone so well.

Nor, despite Artemis's quite understandable worries on this score before the mission had commenced, had they been spotted by any of the infrequent police patrols that were still out on the ominously quiet streets. This was due to three main reasons. Firstly, the police already had their hands full dealing with the massive casualties that they had sustained during last nights destructive campaign by the yakuza _Shinigami_, secondly, the keen ears of the cats ensured that the small party had plenty of time to safely hide at the distinctive approaching sound of any of the remaining police vehicles still on the beat. The third reason was the damage that the sailor scouts had already caused earlier tonight to the infrastructure of their enemies. This had drawn away every police car not already assigned to other duties, leaving the little group a clear run towards their final target.

"All right, our last target is only five blocks away, now," Artemis was at that moment informing his troops. "We'll play it the same way as we did with the other two; Sailor Moon and Sailor V blow the main doors and shoot in through the front windows. Luna, Diana and I-!"

"'_Fire One and Two' to 'Gold Team'! Come in, please?"_

"That's Rei and Yuichiro," Luna exclaimed, as the sudden call from Sailor Mars on their communicators interrupted Artemis in mid sentence. "This is 'Gold Team'," She quickly answered. "Receiving you loud and clear, 'Fire Team'. How is your mission going? You haven't run into any unforeseen problems, have you?"

"No, we're actually finished already, 'Black One'! Request permission to rejoin you at entry jump point. _Over."_

Luna exchanged a quick look with Artemis. "It'd probably be best to say, 'yes'," he advised her. "Instead of them heading straight to Arisugawa Park, maybe it'd be better if they tagged along with us right now? We've got to go back past the jewellery shop to get to our last safe-house target, anyway, and if 'Fire Team' rejoins us on our way there that'll save us all a bit of time afterwards."

"Good idea, Artemis. And once we're destroyed our last target, we can all sailor-teleport back to the Crown straight away, without having to divert to Arisugawa Park at all."

"Yes, the sooner we all get off these streets and out of sight again, the better I'll feel," the white cat agreed.

"Ah, 'Fire Team' that's an affirmative," Luna informed Sailor Mars. "Can you be there in ten minutes? Over."

"No problems, 'Black One'. We'll be there in five. See ya!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

True to her word, Sailor Mars and Yuichiro rejoined their friends in the alley beside the jewellery store at exactly the prearranged time. After the congratulatory greetings were over, Sailor Mars got right down to business.

"Mission accomplished, Luna. We totally destroyed all three of our targets, and what yakuza we did encounter are now all scattered and running hard."

"Well done, Sailor Mars, Yuichiro! We've destroyed two of the targets on our own list, but so far we haven't been able to discover the whereabouts of 'Cream Man' Oda. He wasn't at the first yakuza safe house where he was supposed to be, or the second, so we're hoping that he is at the last one, which is less than three blocks away from our position here. We're on our way to take it out right now."

"Well done, Rei-chan, Yuichiro-san," Sailor V congratulated her friends, giving them both high-fives. "Boy, you two work fast!"

"Yeah, guys, totally excellent work," Sailor Moon added, doing the same. "We would have been finished by now, too, but we prefer to – _ah?_ – Pace ourselves…_yeah,_ that's it! _Pace ourselves!"_

"Nice try, Bunny-chan," Sailor Mars grinned and then flinched slightly. _"Ow!"_

"Rei-chan, you're hurt!" Sailor Moon gasped out with concern, just now noticing the bloodstain on the front of her friend's left shoulder.

"It's nothing, Bunny-chan. The bullet bounced off me, but it broke the skin and cut me first. Nothing's broken and I'll be fine."

"Are you positive about that, Rei?" Luna inquired worriedly. "I can take a quick look at it, if you want?"

"It'll be fine, thanks, Luna. The bleeding has stopped now and I can still move my left arm just fine, see?"

"Okay, then. All right, everybody, let's get moving. We've got one more attack to carry out before we go home, so let's get it over and done with."

"Oh, there's one other thing that we need to tell you about, guys," Sailor Mars informed the others as they all started on their way once again. "Yuichiro-kun and I had just got into position to hit the 'Happy Hour' bar, when someone else beat us to it! A strange black cloud appeared overhead, it started to rain, then someone or something half hidden in the cloud opened fire down into the rooftop of the bar, blowing it into a pile of collapsing rubble! We took advantage of the situation and set the remains on fire before we got the heck out of there. So what do you make of that?"

"Someone else helped you?" Artemis repeated with surprise, halting to stare upwards at her, his blue eyes huge. "And you didn't get to see whom it was?"

"No. At the time I thought that it might have been someone else you managed to contact to give us a bit of extra help?"

"If someone took out the 'Happy Hour' bar for you, it wasn't anyone that I managed to call up," the white cat declared in a puzzled tone, "Unless…? Hey, maybe the outer senshi have finally arrived? Maybe it was Sailor Pluto, she can fly and hover in mid air!"

"Maybe…? But if it was Sailor Pluto or one of the others, then why didn't she attempt to make contact with us?" Sailor Mars replied, looking thoughtful. "She must have known that we were there, and when I blasted the remains of the building into embers there was no way that whomever it was could have missed seeing me do it!"

"Hmm? It's a mystery, all right?" Luna commented. "When we get back to the Crown Game Center, we'd best get right onto it, Artemis, and see what we can dig up?"

"I concur, Luna. But maybe we'll even run into this mystery helper again, tonight? Listen up, everybody! As well as watching our immediate surroundings, you'd better keep a good eye open for anyone who might be following us, as well!"

Despite the cat's misgivings about the possibility of them being secretly trailed by their unknown ally, their very cautious ten minute walk to the location of the last yakuza hideout was totally uneventful. Totally uneventful, that is, until the bright headlights of another car suddenly appeared in the distance in front of them, the vehicle first indicating and then slowing down to park on the other side of the street from their hurriedly taken cover behind the corner of the opposing building.

"_Look!"_ Sailor Mars hissed out to the others, flattening her slender back against the stone wall and peering cautiously around the corner towards the vehicle as it pulled over to a stop only twenty or so meters in front of them. "In that car! I think that there's a yakuza in it…?"

"Can you see who it is, Rei-chan?" Sailor Moon asked, peeking as well from a position just under that of her taller friend.

"I wanna see, too!" Diana squeaked from behind Usagi's ankle, before being seized firmly by Luna and carried back to the safety of the rear of the group.

"Not yet, Bunny-chan," Rei whispered down to her curious blonde friend. _"Hey!_ Don't stick your head out too far, _Odango head,_ he'll see you!"

"_Whoops!_ Sorry, Rei-chan…!"

The headlights of the mystery car suddenly faded out, and then the driver's side door opened and the yakuza in question stepped out onto the road. As he walked around onto the sidewalk, the little group caught a glimpse of his face…

"_That's 'Cream Man' Oda!" _Sailor V gasped out, eyes widening with surprised satisfaction from her vantage point above Sailor Mars's head. _"That's him, right there in front of us!"_

"_Sailor Moon!"_ Luna cried out in alarm, as Usagi dashed forward to confront the man that had caused her so much pain and suffering over the last few days. _"Wait!!"_ But she was too late to stop the angry girl, Usagi was already well on her way!

The yakuza enforcer had so far had a fairly uneventful day. With the hunt for the sailor senshi having been temporarily called off due to the attacks by the _Shinigami_ on the forces of law and order, he had been assigned instead to transporting stocks of ammunition, liquor and cigarettes to the various safe houses in the district. He had spent the last half an hour having a late dinner at a nearby diner, and this place just around the corner was his last delivery for the night. Once he had arranged to remove the supplies in the trunk of the car safely into the confines of the hideout, 'Cream Man' was looking forward to having the rest of the night off. As he didn't have any soft bodied young girl lined up for his relaxation that night, there was a high stakes card game going to be starting back at the 'Happy Hour' in another thirty minutes that he had no intention of missing. After the thrill and excitement of last weekend, it would be the mundane, though tolerable, highlight of his so far boring day.

_At least I've got that to look forward to?_ 'Cream Man' thought to himself as he unlocked the trunk of the borrowed vehicle. Since he didn't have a two-way radio in this car, he had no inkling at all that his base of operations had already been reduced to a smoking pile of embers. _Once I meet my contact here and arrange for all of this stuff to be taken to the hideout, I'd better hurry up and get my ass back to the bar for the game. Nothing else is liable to happen tonight - or tomorrow, for that matter - now that we've all been ordered off the streets by Oyabun Tanaka-sama…!"_

The sound of an alarmed cry reached his ears, followed by the clicking of rapidly approaching footsteps. The bulky yakuza whirled around to see a small figure blocking his path. A slender figure with two long blonde pigtails, clad in a sailor suit of blue and white and red, with red, knee-length boots on her lovely slim legs. And she was holding a sceptre of some kind in one white-gloved hand…

"_Sailor Moon! _It's you, isn't it, Bunny? Hah! What now, Sweetie…?_"_

"You stole my life," Usagi told him simply, raising her sceptre as she spun around and dropped to her knees. _"Moon Spiral Heart-!"_

With sickening suddenness, a totally unexpected bullet blew the moon sceptre clean out of Usagi's hand a split second before she could fire it, the savage impact on her weapon spinning her around, causing the shocked sailor scout to overbalance and fall hard onto her rear!

"_Waaaaaaah!"_ Usagi wailed out with shocked surprise, legs splayed out as she sat on her bruised bottom on the hard concrete, tears erupting from the corners of her blue eyes. _"That huuurt!"_

"_Look out, Sailor Moon!"_ Sailor V screamed out, eyes wide with concern and fear for her lover as she spotted the hidden gunman. Disregarding her own safety, Minako leapt out onto the sidewalk and whipped up her Crescent compact. "There's another man behind the corner of that building behind him!"

"So the little sailor girls have come out to play, eh? _Hi, girls! Bye, girls!"_ Laughing, the yakuza enforcer dodged Sailor V's Crescent compact beam and ran off with the other gunman behind the corner of the building, disappearing into the all-concealing shadows blanketing their escape path.

"_Why, you dork-!"_ Sailor Moon cried out, her flood of tears disappearing as if by magic as she regained her nerve. Snatching up her moon sceptre again, she leapt back to her feet. _"I'll-!"_

"No, Sailor Moon," Sailor Mars told her firmly as she reached her friend, grabbing the angry sailor scout's arm as Usagi prepared to dash off after her tormentor. "It's too risky for you to run off chasing him! You stay here with Sailor V. Yuichiro and I'll go after him, instead, and make him pay for what he's done to you and us!"

"Do it, Sailor Mars, Yuichiro," Luna urged them. "The rest of us will head for our next target. We have to hit them before they receive warning of us coming or else we'll lose the advantage of surprise!"

"And if that happens, we'll probably get tied down in an unnecessary gun battle," Artemis added. "And we can't afford to do that, it'll give the police time to find and mobilize reinforcements and surround us!"

"Okay, we'll see you all at the rendezvous at Arisugawa Park at eleven o'clock, then, like we originally planned to do," Sailor Mars called back to them as she and Yuichiro ran off towards the corner of the building. "Take care, you guys!"

"Same with you, Rei-chan, Yuichiro-san," Sailor Moon called after them. "Don't let him get away!"

"We won't, Bunny-chan," Sailor Mars grimly promised her. "He's toast!"

And then they both vanished into the night as well.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Hold it, Hisashi-san," 'Cream Man' Oda puffed out to the other yakuza as he came to a halt just in front of a brightly lit truck stop petrol station. "I've got a plan to deal with that sailor scout following us, and right here is the ideal place to carry it out. This place is for trucks only, so there should be no one else around to get in our way, either."

"So what have you got in mind?" the other man asked him after throwing a nervous look back towards the pitch black park that they had just run through. "I think that there's at least two people following us, and I'm sure that one of the pair is Sailor Mars. I caught a glimpse of her red sailor suit just before we ducked into those trees back there."

"Perfect! So, my plan is this, I'm going to fight fire with fire," came the somewhat cryptic answer. "I had this idea the other night, when I found out that Sailor Mars was one of the opposition. I'm going to give her a taste of her own medicine." He gestured back at the row of fuel pumps behind him to help make his point.

"Ah, I get it! Lure her here, and then make her open fire on us. But how do _we_ get away? I don't want to be anywhere near here when these petrol tanks start to blow!"

"Don't worry, Hisashi-san, I've got that all worked out, too. See this access hatch here? I worked for a few months in a place just like this one, once. It leads down to a service tunnel about ten feet below ground level. We'll open it up now, you get down there and check that there's no obstructions that could keep us from making our escape along it. I'll wait up here and taunt Sailor Mars into opening fire on me, then drop down feet first to safety before she can hit me! Then all we need to do is identify her body – if there _is_ one left – after the explosions die down up here!"

"That sounds like a plan to me?" the other yakuza grinned, pleased that his part in it was limited to opening the manhole cover and being the first of the pair to go down to safety. "Let's get on with it. She can't be too far behind us now?"

-:-:-:-:-:-

Hisashi Morita-san's words proved to be pretty prophetic. No more than two minutes later, Sailor Mars appeared at the edge of the wide expanse of concrete that marked the edge of the truck stop refuelling station's forecourt area. Such was her thirst for vengeance on the yakuza that had ruined her and her dear friends lives, she had left Yuichiro – encumbered as he was by the bazooka and his backpack of ammunition - well behind. Slamming to a halt at the sight of 'Cream Man' Oda's waiting outline, the infuriated girl in her red sailor suit stared at him with a chilling look of vengeance in her burning eyes.

"There you are, you Hentai," Rei called out to him, her voice as cold and unfeeling as wind driven snow. "You can't escape from me, you yakuza scum! I'll track you down to the ends of the earth if needs be to kill you for what you did to my best friends and to my home!"

"You're far too good looking to be so angry, Honey," 'Cream Man' taunted her, an involuntary chill running up his broad back at the intensity of her hatred towards him, standing so that his emergency escape route was hidden behind his bulky form. But, because of that very reaction from her, he now knew that his risky plan would work. "I'd much rather take you to bed with me than have to fight you – just like I did with your two blonde sailor friends, both at the same time! And I had them both moaning with pleasure, too, just like I will have you doing as well. And, once I subdue you, I'm going to strip you, spread your lovely long legs open on the grass over there, and make you mine!"

"_Die!!"_ Sailor Mars screamed with hatred, racing towards him as she totally lost it at his mocking words. _"Fire Soul Bird!!"_

As the spiral of incandescent fire roared towards him, 'Cream Man' hurriedly dropped feet-first through the open manhole at his feet, and fled with his comrade as fast as they could down the service tunnel away from the refuelling station!

"_Rei!! Rei-babe, hold your fire!!"_ Yuichiro yelled out in alarm as he hurled himself desperately out of the park behind him towards his love, realizing just too late that she had walked into a trap. _"Stop!! Those are petrol tanks behind him-!!"_

But he was too late. In front of his horrified gaze, Rei was engulfed in a gigantic, petrol-fuelled fireball of her own making! The fiery blast picked Yuichiro up and flung him violently forty feet backwards; clean through the board fence surrounding the exploding refuelling station and into the whipping bushes beyond!

-:-:-:-:-:-

"_Got you, Sailor Mars,"_ 'Cream Man' exulted to himself as he hurriedly trotted away down the service tunnel, the fiery roar of the first explosion ringing in his ears. "Nothing could have survived that-!" But, before he could finish his smug sentence, the earth heaved violently from a vastly larger eruption as the main underground fuel tanks of the doomed service station behind him blew like a volcano, blowing him and his friend clean off their feet and down onto the hard concrete beneath them! Then the curved roof of the tunnel caved in almost directly on top of them, burying his accomplice in an avalanche of shattered debris from the concussive force of the petrol fuelled airburst above and behind his kneeling form.

"_Damn!! Yaaargh!"_ Then a large chunk of falling concrete caught 'Cream Man' squarely on his shaven head as he desperately tried to scramble up onto his feet again, and he dropped limply back down to the rubble littered floor, his unmoving body half covered by shattered concrete shards and white dust, further explosions revibrating above him as the truck stop blew itself steadily into total oblivion.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Yuichiro stumbled out of the burning woodland, his helmet gone, arms held high in an effort to protect himself from the fearsome heat of the roaring blaze and the droplets of fire raining down from the sky above the raging inferno in front of him. He staggered forward out into the open again, somehow avoiding the hungry tongues of fire that radiated out from the epicentre of the blast, to stare with frantic, tearful desperation towards where he had last seen the spotlight-lit silhouette of Sailor Mars as she had run forward towards her doom.

"Rei! _Rei!!"_

But the area where his love had stood was nothing but a sheet of leaping flame, backlit by the blasts of secondary explosions as further stores of petrol and diesel ignited from the heat of the fierce blaze. And then he knew, _he knew,_ that she was dead and gone and that she was never coming back.

Yuichiro collapsed to his knees and began to cry great choking sobs of grief. He knew that he would never, ever, as long as he lived, forget Rei standing there in all of her beauty as she had strode to her death, or her final word to him…

_For the last word that she had screamed out in anguished terror as the fireball consumed her had been his name._

-:-:-:-:-:-

Yuichiro Kamada finally arose back to his feet, and stood there, swaying back and forth as he tried to compose his shattered emotions. In his overwhelming grief at Rei's loss, he had come to a decision. He knew that he couldn't effectively help the sailor senshi any more – his bazooka was gone, and for all that he knew they were by now all as dead as his lover was. And because Rei was dead and gone, there was nothing left for him here, now, anyway…

Taking the car that 'Cream Man' Oda had parked a couple of streets away – luckily leaving the keys still in the lock of the trunk - Yuichiro drove it back to the now abandoned Crown Game Center. Once there, he packed his remaining possessions into his backpack and collected his guitar. Then, after writing a quick, farewell note to Artemis and Luna, on the off chance that they would return to this location and find it, Yuichiro, deep in the throes of his despair, departed the place for good.

Walking steadily away from the life and the dead girl that he had loved, Yuichiro reached the street that led to the nearest train station. Once at the terminal, he booked a seat on the next train to the southern suburbs of the huge sprawling city of Tokyo. After he had arrived there later tonight, he would turn his feet further south…

Yuichiro Kamada, ex-JGSDF artilleryman, rock star, shrine helper, and now broken man, was at long last going home.

"_Goodbye, my darling, Rei-chan…" _Yuichiro whispered to himself, tears in his eyes and unkempt head bowed with sorrow as he waited for his late night ride, slumped on a seat on the brightly illuminated train station platform. A vision of the beautiful raven-haired teenage girl in her grey, catholic school uniform, with a smile and a cheery wave for him arose before his moisture filled eyes._ "I'll never, ever forget you…! As long as I live, I'll keep your memory alive…"_


	22. Chapter 22

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Meanwhile, less than half a kilometer away from Sailor Mars and Yuichiro's confrontation with 'Cream Man' Oda and Hisashi Morita, the two remaining sailor senshi and the three cats were carefully making their way towards the last target on their list when the muffled sound of a large explosion came to their ears. As one, the entire party halted and spun around to face back in the direction that they had come.

"What in the heck was that?" Sailor Moon asked, eyes huge with worry. "Was than an explosion, guys?"

"Yes, it was, Bunny-chan," Sailor V answered, no less astonished than her friend. "A big one, too!"

"I can hear other explosions now, as well," Luna told them. "Maybe Sailor Mars and Yuichiro have caught up with 'Cream Man' Oda and his yakuza friend? Let's hope that these explosions are those two getting their well deserved come-upperance!"

Then the sky back in the direction in which they had come, momentarily lit up as if the sun were suddenly rising, and a much louder boom reverberated through the streets! And everyone instinctively knew that something both awesome and terrible had happened at that not all too distant location.

"That bang was much, much too loud to come from Yuichiro's bazooka," Artemis declared, looking worried. "That almost sounded like an ammunition dump blowing up, especially with all of those secondary explosions that we can still hear…!"

"And just look at that black and red column of smoke going up into the sky over the tops of those buildings?" Sailor V pointed out in a voice just as worried at that of her cat guardian. Raising her Crescent compact communicator up to her lips, she quickly put in a call to Sailor Mars.

"'Fire One', this is 'Gold Two'. Please acknowledge! _Over."_

As the rest of the group looked on with slowly deepening concern, over the next thirty seconds Sailor V tried again and again to raise her friends, but despite her entreaties the frequency remained stubbornly silent.

"There's still no answer," Sailor V told them, her voice thick with worry. "Maybe we should go back there and check it out, guys?"

"No, Minako, we have to keep going," Artemis reluctantly told her. "Those explosions are going the be attracting all kinds of unwelcome attention, and if we do go back, not only will we lose our advantage of surprise over the yakuza, but the police could easily catch us inside their perimeter. We all know that they're going to be swarming in from all directions to check it out, along with fire crews and ambulance staff. We don't want or need to get caught up in all of that!"

"And we just have to trust Sailor Mars and Yuichiro to carry out their mission, just as they are trusting us to carry out ours," Luna finished off for her partner. "Take one last look at it, everybody, and then we're off."

But the anxious little party hadn't made it much further along the street before they found out that they had an entirely new situation to worry about. The sudden thump of a heavy impact suddenly attracted everyone's attention towards a partially ruined multi-storeyed building. The twisted remains of two wrecked police cars outside the damaged doughnut shop on the ground floor suggested as to why it had been targeted by whatever it was that had caused such widespread damage to the surrounding city last night.

"_Something's coming through that collapsed building over there!"_ Sailor V apprehensively warned the others. "Something big! Get ready!" She dived behind a steel mailbox and raised up her new Crescent compact ready to fire as the others also quickly took cover at her anxious warning, bracing themselves for combat.

"_Oh, no!"_ Sailor Moon cried out from her position next to Luna, beginning to tremble. "I hope that it's not another _Oni_ demon? They're scary…"

"Don't worry, Usagi. We can handle it. Get ready to fire your moon sceptre as soon as we identify it, before it notices that we're here."

A cracked concrete slab that must have weighed over half a ton abruptly shivered in its bed of debris, shifted, and then was flung aside and a huge shape emerged from the dusty rubble through the newly created hole in the side of the ruined building! Stepping quickly out of the shadows, the figure stood there, blinking at them, and then a reassuring smile spread across his face as he spotted Sailor V.

"So there you are? I was wondering whether you made it?"

"_Vincent S!"_ Sailor V screamed out with delight, leaping up from behind her refuge. _"It's you!_ But how? I saw that building fall on you…you should be dead?!"

"_Why?"_ He grinned back at her. "I usually make a better first impression on girls for them to wish me that?"

"_Ah, err, um?_ That's not what I meant…? Oh, _just come here, Baka?!"_ Flinging herself into the huge man's arms, she hugged him tight.

As Sailor V turned back with a huge grin on her red masked face to introduce her savior to the others, she caught a glimpse of the look on Sailor Moon's face.

_Ohmygod! I forgot about Bunny-chan! How's she going to feel about me being this enthusiastic about a guy, when I have her?_

"Sailor Moon, I – I – I'm really sorry-!"

Then Sailor Moon smiled at her, breaking the nervous tension between the two lovers.

"It's alright, Sailor V,' she declared to her apologetic friend. "He saved your life, so he's fine with me." Leaning close to the very relieved looking Minako, she whispered out, "And you were totally right about him, too. _Wow!_ _What a total hunk!"_

"Thanks, Bunny-chan. _Ahem!_ Everybody, I'd like to introduce you all to Vincent S. He's the man who saved me from the yakuza hit squads last night. Vincent, this is Artemis, Luna, Diana, and my friend, Sailor Moon."

"_Pssst! Your girlfriend, Sailor Moon…!"_ Usagi corrected her, behind the palm of her right hand.

Sailor V blushed furiously under her red mask. "_Um,_ sorry, Vincent, but Sailor Moon and I are, _Um?_ Well - _ah!_ Well, we're kinda seeing each other, in a relationship, you know…?" her voice trailed off into an embarrassed silence.

Vincent laughed at the expression on her face. "Okay. Don't look so flustered, Minako-chan. I don't mind, now that I've seen my lovely competition. You're very lucky, Sailor Moon."

"Whew! Thanks Vincent-san," both sweat dropping girls chorused, relieved at his understanding of their somewhat unusual situation.

"Hi, Vincent," Artemis warmly greeted his huge acquaintance. "Boy, am I glad to see you, especially after what Sailor V told us when she rejoined us last night. Nice to have you with us!"

"Gidday, Artemis. Long time, no see."

"So you're the young man who saved Sailor V for us?" Luna spoke up in an impressed tone. "Well! You're certainly a big asset, in anyone's book."

"Pleased to meet you, Vincent-sama," Diana squeaked politely from her perch on top of Sailor Moon's head, overawed by the towering man in front of her.

"Luna, Diana. I'm just glad that Sailor V got back to you all safely."

"But, how did you survive, Vincent-san?" Sailor V asked him, still finding it very hard to believe that he had somehow actually managed to avoid being squashed completely flat by the hundreds of tons of rubble that had fallen onto him last night. "I saw you and that demon crushed under that collapsing building. How on earth did you manage to survive it? And – what about the demon? Did it somehow survive, too?"

"I'm tough," Vincent declared modestly. "Nor am I totally human – I have something in my make up that makes me not only strong, but also, well, practically invincible. So, when that building fell on me, it was more of an annoyance than anything else. I was trapped in the wreckage with hardly any leverage, so it took me over an entire day to dig my way back out of there again."

"_Wow!"_ Both blonde sailor scouts gasped out, their enraptured faces resembling nothing so much as two blue-eyed owls at his heroic escape from certain doom.

"And as for that demon thing, it made the mistake of solidifying too close to me when I was carrying an 'I' beam. It is now a well-skewered pile of grey dust amongst the ruins."

"Thank god!" Luna exclaimed, speaking for all of them. "From what Sailor Mars told us, they're deadly enemies, and I'm certainly very glad that we don't have to worry about that last one being on our tail."

Sailor Moon shivered as she remembered the scary sight of the five _Oni_ back in the now shattered circle of standing stones, before a combination of Rei's _ofuda_ scrolls and their combined power had vaporized the horrific creatures.

_Boy, am I relieved that I didn't have to face one of them again, after all…!_

"Okay, before I forget, I have a little present here for you, Sailor V," Vincent declared, before anything more could be said. "I picked it up for you at a special little place that you told me about on Sunday night." Digging his hand into the right hand side pocket of his brand new trench coat, he pulled out a very familiar object and passed it over to the dumbstruck Sailor V.

"That's my Sailor Venus Henshin stick!" Minako breathed, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the object in her shaking hand. "Wow! I thought that I'd never get it back! Thanks, Vincent-san!"

"Next time, put a strap on it so that you don't drop it," he advised her with a grin, pleased at the reaction of the rapt little group at his unexpected surprise. "It's _not_ the type of thing that you can get insurance cover on…!"

"_Yay! Yay!"_ Sailor V raised up her Henshin stick and her fingernails flashed with yellow sparkles. _"Venus Star Power, Make Up!!"_

If Minako had been beautiful as Sailor V, in her guise as Sailor Venus, she was absolutely radiant. As she struck up her pose, Sailor Moon felt as if her heart would burst with love and longing for her beautiful young lover.

_Oh, Minako-chan…! If we survive tonight, 'Sailor Moon says' that we're going to spend the next week in bed with each other – and be sure to tune in then for what's going to be happening next…!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

However, the miraculous survival of Vincent S wasn't the only surprise awaiting the outnumbered little band that night. Not long after their first happy reunion with their giant ally, another call came through on the sailor scouts wristwatch communicators – one from a dearly missed friend that they had almost given up hope of ever seeing again.

"Hello? _Hello?!_ Gee, is this thing on, or not? Sailor Moon? Luna? _Anyone?! Where the heck are you, guys?"_

"_That's Mako-chan's voice!"_ Sailor Moon exclaimed, yanking up her right wrist to her mouth and staring at her communicator with an unrestrained look of joy blossoming in her hope filled eyes. _"Mako-chan! Where are you?!"_

"_Mako-chan!" _Sailor Venus echoed with elation into her own device. "It's me, Sailor Venus speaking. Tell us where you are!"

"Bunny-chan? Minako-chan? Kami-sama, it's good to hear your voices! I've been so worried about all of you!"

"_Thanks! But where are you?!"_ both sailor scouts chorused.

"I – I'm not sure, guys…? I don't think that I'm too far away from you, but I don't know exactly where…!"

"_I do,"_ Artemis yelled to the frustrated looking sailor pair, looking up happily from his computer screen. "I've traced her call on my portable computer. She's four blocks away to the north east of us, and coming in our direction."

"C'mon, let's go get her?" Sailor Venus urged the others. "Mako-chan! Just keep going in the direction that you are, now, and we'll meet you half-way."

"We'll find you, Mako-chan, I promise," Usagi added. "Hang in there!"

"Thanks, guys. I'm on my way again, right now."

Less than five minutes later, even though they all had to move with caution through the night time streets in case of any hidden ambush awaiting them, the 'Gold Team' struck gold!

"_Hey, guys! Over here!!" _the achingly familiar voice of their missing friend rang out of the darkness cast by a shade tree up the street ahead of them, not much further along on their wary line of advance. Then a tall, slender, pony tailed silhouette appeared next to the thick bole of the maple tree, raising a hand up in greeting.

"_There she is,"_ Sailor Moon yelled out with excitement, waving her white gloved hands frantically to attract the others attention. _"It's Mako-chan! Everybody! She's over here in this direction!"_

"Bunny-chan! Minako-chan! It's so good to see you guys," Makoto cried out as the two blonde sailor scouts dashed in her direction. The three girls embraced warmly as they reached each other, laughing and crying out with joy and relief at their reunion.

"Welcome back, Makoto," Luna greeted her long lost charge, her warm salutation followed by the no less cheerful ones from Artemis and Diana.

"Luna! Artemis, Diana! Thank you so much. I was so worried that I'd never, ever see you all ever again…!" Leaning down, she gave all three cats a warm and heartfelt cuddle, one that all three felines reciprocated back to her with interest.

"Makoto, you've been injured," Luna stated, looking with concern at the white bandage wrapped around her head. "We heard that you'd been shot! Are you sure that you're well enough to be out on the streets with us, now?"

"Yeah, Luna, I'll be fine. I _was_ shot, I think, at the 'Happy Hour' bar, but since I was Sailor Jupiter at the time the bullet only wounded me and put me out for a day or two. I was recovering at the National Medical Clinic in Minami-Azabu, but then a youma somehow discovered that I was there. One of them attacked me in my room on Saturday night! I tricked it into thinking that I was still unconscious and then fried it once it got so close to me that I couldn't miss. I had to zap one more youma after I had made my escape, but now that I'm back with you all, I feel great!"

"So that's two more youma down, and all by yourself, too?" Artemis gloated. "Great job, Sailor Jupiter! I was wondering why we hadn't been attacked by any more of them, and your actions have just given me the answer."

"Yes, an excellent piece of work, Makoto," Luna purred with satisfaction. "Especially since you were badly injured at the time. Everybody, after what Sailor Jupiter has just told us, I think that we have in all probability seen the last of the youma threat, too."

"I agree, Luna," Artemis concurred. "There weren't many youma left in Tokyo after the defeat of the Dark Kingdom, anyway, and with three more gone the chances of any more of them being around at the moment to plague us are next to zero."

"_Thank goodness,"_ Sailor Moon sighed with relief to Sailor Venus. _"Two_ lots of enemies gone, now. Go, us! We're winners!"

"Hey, where's Ami-chan and Rei-chan?" Sailor Jupiter asked, only now noticing the absence of her other two dear friends now that the delighted greetings and explanations amongst their group had finally finished. _"And who's the hunk?"_

Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus exchanged worried glances, their previous euphoria fading away as the reality of their situation set back in again. "Ah, we'll tell you after, Mako-chan…" Sailor Venus hurriedly told her. "But, that big guy over there is Vincent S. He helped me out earlier. _Isn't he dreamy?!_"

Despite the obvious pain of her head wound, Sailor Jupiter took the time to eye up Vincent S with a _very_ appreciative look in her sparkling green eyes.

"_Wow! What a hunky guy…!_ He looks just like my old boyfriend-!"

"_Yeah, right?!"_ the other two girls chorused with sarcastic disbelief.

"But he _is_ single," Sailor Venus whispered conspiratorially to their very interested friend, her fascinated eyes still riveted on their giant companion.

"_Yeah? Wow, what luck!_ But you're telling me that he's actually single _with you two here? What gives?"_

"_Um?_ Well, I've already got an…_um,_ special someone, remember, Mako-chan?" Usagi explained, a big sweat drop appearing on her forehead. "And Minako-chan has also just found a…new partner, as well. _So…?"_

"Okay, so I've got no competition for him at all from you guys? _Really? All right!!_ Introduce me to him right now, guys!"

They duly did so. And once again, Vincent could see that this latest member of their elite group was interested in being more than just friends with him. The sparkles in the tall, very attractive brunette girl's eyes and the way that she clung to his muscle packed right arm made that blatantly obvious…

_Boy, another hottie. I feel like I'm at a Miss Universe beauty pageant, with a cosplay section. Are all of the sailor scouts as drop dead gorgeous like these three…? If so, I might even consider deserting, and may never go home again…!_

-:-:-:-:-:-

The sound of a muffled boom, and a brief flash of light off in the far distance broke up the happy reunion with Sailor Jupiter in a hurry! Staring in alarm off over the rooftops in the direction of the momentary flare of light reflecting off a low hanging patch of smoke in the ash-polluted sky, nothing at first could be seen by the now tense and expectant mixed group of fighters and support staff.

"Another explosion," Sailor Venus commented uneasily to the others. "I wonder what the target was, this time?"

"It could be the yakuza attack craft again?" Artemis stated with mixed optimism and dread in his voice, staring intently off in the direction of the sudden and distant detonation. "I hope that it wasn't another police station going up in – _Luna! Look!!"_

Just then, without any warning whatsoever, a dark, very sinister looking shape sped silently across the sky in front of them, moving away from the site of the explosion and off across the city. It was a sheer fluke that the cats happened to be staring up with their excellent night vision at exactly the right place to spot the flying machine as it moved through the black sky overhead. And from the little that Artemis, Luna and Diana did manage to make out of the rapidly receding black shape, they noted that the menacing craft had obvious stealth capabilities. Furthermore, the machine had incorporated into its design some sort of light absorbent, black covering that made it practically impossible to see at night, unless you happened to be staring directly at it as it moved, as they were.

"It's the yakuza war machine!" Artemis yelled out, his enhanced eyes following the path of the deadly aerial fighter as it faded off into the gloom. "I've managed to pick up a faint heat signature from it on my computer as well, and it's headed directly west from us in the direction of Arisugawa Park! Let's get over there, right now!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

At about this time, _Oyabun_ Takao Tanaka was receiving an urgent call on his car radio from _Shateigashira _Fujimori. And the news that the gob-smacked _Oyabun_ was now receiving was bad - _very bad...!_

"I was lucky, I was en-route to the 'Happy Hour' bar when it was attacked by the sailor senshi, so I wasn't inside the building when it was destroyed," the _Shateigashira_ told his boss. "As soon as I was appraised of the critical situation, I tried to put in a call to _Saiko Komon_ Ito-sama in Kabukicho, but I was told by the only staff member that I could raise that Main Headquarters has also just been mysteriously destroyed, at about the same time as the 'Happy Hour' was! And there is no sign of Toshio Ito-sama anywhere, but I heard from another one of our men on the spot that he was caught inside the building when it came down. So I think that we can discount any thought of your _Saiko Komon's_ survival, _Oyabun_-sama…"

"_Damn! Damn!_ How on earth did the sailor senshi manage to pull off attacks like that, right under the noses of the police and us?" _Oyabun_ Tanaka raged into the speaker, his usual iron self control momentarily overwhelmed by the scale of this latest disaster to befall their organization. But then – realizing that blind rage was counter-productive and would serve no useful purpose in the dicey situation that was now developing - the head of the Black Cap yakuza quickly forced himself to calm down again, and he began to think rationally once more.

_After all,_ he told himself with renewed satisfaction as his anger at their losses faded away, _we still have not one, but two aces left up our sleeve…! The remaining sailor senshi are already doomed – they just don't know it yet…!_

"Okay, Sadao-san, pull all of our surviving men right out of Azabu-Juuban and Kabukicho, altogether," _Oyabun_ Tanaka ordered _Shateigashira _Fujimori. "While we still have men left to move! The sailor senshi may indeed be worthy adversaries, but now that the JGSDF 1st Division is being deployed out of Nerima, they and the _Shinigami_ should be able to handle the sailor senshi without too much more trouble. And if the sailor senshi really _are_ getting all of the blame for destroying all of the Juuban police stations, like I've been hearing on the news reports, I don't think that the army or the police are going to be anything like merciful towards them, don't you agree? In fact, with a stroke of luck, they will shoot on sight any that escape the _Shinigami!_ And that would solve a lot of our problems."

"Hai, _Oyabun_-sama. I'll get on to it right away!"

"Keep me informed as to any further developments as they come to hand, Sadao-san. I will be reaching my position near Arisugawa Park soon, and will be all set up with my special equipment well before dawn. The _Shinigami_ will be arriving there on schedule as well; there is only one more priority police target for it to destroy before it arrives at the park. Then, once the remnants of the sailor senshi arrive at that location to do battle with it – I will seal their doom!"

"Hai, Takao-sama! It will be as you ordered."

"_Sayonara,_ Sadao-san. After this affair has been satisfactorily concluded, we shall drink to our success over the bones of our extinct enemies!"

Switching off his radio, _Oyabun_ Tanaka pursed his lips and a frown appeared on his forehead as he leaned back in the rear seat of his limousine. Their losses were now approaching catastrophic levels – and the sailor senshi were still alive – but as of now, only temporarily…!

_The sailor senshi may be putting up a good fight, but not for much longer,_ he promised himself, scowling fiercely. _With what I have with me, now, I'll kill them all even if I have to flatten half of Tokyo to do it!_


	23. Chapter 23

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

Tuesday morning dawned over a scene of widespread destruction. As far as the eye could see, black columns and plumes of smoke from innumerable fires rose lazily into the hazy air above the vast, sprawled out cityscape.

In the middle of Arisugawa Memorial Park, the small group of sailor senshi and their assorted companions were just now stirring. Due to the urgency of having to locate and destroy the yakuza aerial unit, the cats had decided to abandon their original mission and leave the last remaining yakuza safe house for another time. Everybody had spent an uncomfortable and largely sleepless night keeping watch whilst spread out along the concrete and stone path that ran parallel to the trees and to the shimmering waters of the huge pond, which opened out before them towards the western boundary of the park. The stealth craft was now lurking somewhere nearby, of that fact they were all very sure. Arisugawa Park was a hilly 67,500 square meters in size, and for a craft with vertical take off and landing capabilities that was a lot of leafy cover for it to conceal itself in, especially at night.

The sailor senshi had taken alternating turns to watch and sleep for the remainder of Monday night, hoping for the reappearance of the elusive machine, but their efforts had been in vain. No further sign of the yakuza fighter had been seen at all, although Artemis was adamant that it _was_ still somewhere in their vicinity. The faint signal he had received from the stealth craft had suddenly winked out as it had _definitely_ settled to ground somewhere close to their current position in the forested park.

Now, with the sun finally rising, the weary party was seriously thinking about already calling it a day and teleporting back to the Crown Game Center for a meal and a proper rest.

Artemis and Luna were by now also getting very worried about the fate of Sailor Mars and Yuichiro. Neither of them had rejoined with the main party at the park last night as had been previously arranged, and despite repeated attempts to communicate with 'Fire Team' during the long autumn night just passed, neither of their friends was answering. Maybe something bad _had_ happened to them both during the series of loud explosions that they had heard before they set out for Arisugawa Park…?

Making things even worse for the two distracted cat guardians, Usagi in particular was beginning to get hungry, which in turn made Minako begin thinking about food, too. Just to compound matters even more, the girls knew that the National Azabu Supermarket wasn't all that far away from their present position. So, with that thought in mind, both Usagi and Minako, after transforming back into their civilian forms, were now trying to convince Luna and Artemis to let them make a quick trip to the market for field rations.

"And I'm telling you both that the place will be closed," Luna argued. "This whole area has by now been evacuated by the police. All of the people are gone - the local and foreign residents, the staff and diplomats from all of the nearby foreign embassies, _everyone._ So even if you _do_ go there, Usagi, the supermarket won't be open for business!"

"But you _know_ that I'm not at my best until I've had my breakfast, Luna?" Usagi pleaded. _"Please, please, please, please? I'm starving!!"_

"_Place closed, case closed!"_ Luna told her firmly.

"I'm hungry now, too," Minako declared over Usagi's shoulder, her bright blue eyes just as wide and pleading as her friend's. "Maybe there's a stall open over near the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library then, where we can grab a snack? Even bookworms need to eat, remember? _And so do we."_

"Hey, I haven't eaten for days now, myself," Makoto cut in, her own stomach growling with hunger and so eagerly backing up her friends desire for food and drink. "If you do go, then bring me back some snacks too, guys."

"Girls, we're on a mission here," Luna pointed out to them with exasperation. "What would happen if the mystery aircraftwas to emerge out of the woods while you were both away feeding your faces? Tell me that, then?"

Luna's rhetorical question was moot, for that very thing happened a second later, just as Usagi was opening her mouth to reply. With a silent swoosh, the ominous black, marquise-diamond shaped stealth craft hummed up into view over the trees on the other side of the huge pond, taking them all totally by surprise!

"_It's the yakuza craft!"_ Artemis cried out in warning, dashing into the cover of a nearby decorative rock arrangement, Diana hot on his heels. _"Take cover!"_

A gunport opened in the front of the hovering machine and the menacing, multi barrelled shape of a cannon protruded forward out of the black hull. With a rapid whirring sound, a flickering stream of fire erupted from the top barrel of the minigun and a nearly solid stream of bullets sent dirt, torn plant material and stone geysering across the iris-planted bank in their direction! The hail of bullets was followed in rapid succession by a Chu-MAT missile blazing down, to explode on the path next to the petrified Usagi and Minako in an eruption of fire and jagged stone shards – a split second too late!

Having seen what was about to happen, Vincent S had leapt forward in front of Usagi and Minako, hands up across his face, just as the missile exploded only ten feet in front of them. The lethal blast engulfed the trio in a deadly blast of flame and hurtling debris. Then the smoke dissipated, leaving the three still standing in place, seemingly somehow totally unharmed by the frighteningly near miss. The metre deep crater in the shattered stone and concrete path in front of the trio was testament to just how close the missile had come to scoring a direct hit on them!

"_Supreme Thunder Dragon!"_ Sailor Jupiter cried out, and a bolt of lightning arced its way upward, missing the yakuza craft by only meters as it accelerated towards them. Next second, the _Shinigami_ had passed overhead and was moving rapidly off across the park in the direction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library building. Cursing at the fast moving object, Sailor Jupiter fired twice more at the quickly receding stealth machine, both lightning bolts again going wide of their mark. And then it had disappeared from their sight behind the treetops.

"_Vincent-san!"_ Minako screamed at Vincent S, coming to her senses well before the stunned and wide-eyed Usagi could do so. _"Are you all right?!"_

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied, lowering his arms down from his face to dust himself off, bits and pieces of dust, rock and slivers of metal falling from the front half of his towering body as he turned back towards the terrified faces of Usagi and Minako. "But how are you two? Any injuries?"

"N-no, I'm fine…I think?" Usagi told him shakily, her trembling hands searching for any sign of injuries on her shivering body, without finding any so far. "B-boy, was that close?"

"I'm fine, too," Minako added, just as nervously, checking herself with her hands as well. "Vincent-san, you saved us! _Wow!_ And you just took that impact without even a scratch! But your coat isn't even torn this time? _How come?"_

"This is my special trench coat. It's made of Kevlar, the same type as in my hummer H2, and it also has ceramic armor plates built into it as well. Not for me, but for the protection of other people if I have to shield them from harm – like now."

"_Gee, thanks, Vincent-san!"_ Minako and Usagi praised him joyfully, their previous hunger forgotten in the euphoria of the moment.

"_My hero,"_ Minako added, grabbing one huge arm.

"_Mine, too!"_ Usagi declared, hugging the other one.

"_If you don't mind, scouts, the yakuza craft's getting away!"_ Luna spluttered at them, climbing back out of the pond where she had dived headlong to escape the blast from the missile. Shaking herself vigorously to get the muddy water off her plastered down body, she added, _"Get after it!"_

"_Luna's right,"_ Artemis shouted, re-emerging from the cover of the mossy boulders, Diana beside him. "Spread out and follow it in a line! Don't bunch together, you'll make too easy a target!"

"Let's go, guys," Sailor Jupiter called to them impatiently, craning her neck in the direction that the flying machine had disappeared in. "It'll get away if we don't hurry!"

"Right, right…!" Usagi told them, grabbing at her locket. _"Moon Crystal Power Make Up!"_

"_Venus Star Power Make Up!"_ Minako cried out as well, hurriedly raising up her Henshin stick.

Once they had transformed back into sailor scouts, the three girls took the sage advice of Artemis and spaced themselves out along the path, following it as it wound back through the forest towards the broad, open, grassy expanse that led to the distant Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library building. The short journey back to the huge lawn was uneventful, but unfortunately, all of that changed once the small party had emerged from the cover of the forest back out into the open – and _not _for the better.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Our forward intelligence unit reports that the targets are in visual sight now, Sir," the JSDF artillery officer in his camouflage uniform, the yellow piping indicating his branch of the service, radioed in to his superior back at the Eastern Army Headquarters in Nerima, Tokyo. "The sailor senshi are well within our range, furthermore they are out in the open in a totally evacuated area so there should be no civilian casualties resulting from our actions at all. There seems to be some sort of a stealth aircraft in the area as well, but it _has_ been confirmed as a hostile. It's definitely not one of ours, nor is it one of the Americans' planes, Sir!"

"Very well. You may fire when ready," came the hoped for order from the Colonel in charge of his Field Artillery Regiment. "I have been instructed to pass on to you the news that it has been decided to eliminate the sailor senshi as threats to the nation by any means possible, before they can cause any further destruction to Tokyo. You and your unit are ideally positioned to carry out this dangerous task, without us having to risk any more casualties in a direct fight against them. So concentrate your fire on the sailor senshi and the surrounding area - including the nearby street, if necessary - but try not to hit the Metropolitan Central Library building unless it is absolutely necessary to do so. If you sight the hostile flying machine, send us its co-ordinates and I'll pass them on to our liaison at the Air Self Defense Force."

"Hai, Colonel-sama," the officer replied and then turned back to the gunnery officer. "Do you have a firing solution locked in?"

"Hai, Captain-sama! All six guns are ready and awaiting your orders."

"_Then, Fire!"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

Ten seconds later, the sailor senshi struck big trouble. High overhead, a strange, high-pitched screaming sound could faintly be heard, a sound that rapidly grew louder and closer…! Then the earth heaved beneath them and a geyser of earth and fire fountained up from the lawn off to their left, showering them all with a hail of dirt and sods of grass! Another and another followed in rapid succession from the first, the huge explosions hop-scotching their way across the field towards them!

"_Those are artillery shells!"_ Artemis cried out in horror. "The army is firing on our location! Run for that shopping street over there! If the gunners think that they'll cause an unacceptable amount of property damage, then maybe they'll stop firing on us?!"

Realizing that to stay out here on the wide open expanse of the lawn was suicide, the sailor scouts and their allies strained every muscle to reach the built up area ahead of them – only to see the multi-storeyed shops and places of business abruptly dissolve into sheets of flame and flying debris as the second volley of heavy shells struck home!

"_Get down!"_ Luna screamed out, flinging herself flat as assorted pieces of indiscriminately flying rubble and glass rained down upon them.

"_Are they crazy?!"_ Vincent S yelled out, trying his best to shield Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus from the flying chaos behind his bullet-proof coat. "The army could kill hundreds of people with random shelling like that! And they're using big guns on us, too – howitzers, by the sound of those shells!"

"No, this whole area has been evacuated, remember?" Artemis yelled back over the scream of further falling shells, paws over his face in an effort to protect his eyes. "There's no-one but us here to hit!"

"We can't stay here, guys," Sailor Venus cried out. "We're sitting ducks out here on this lawn. We have to keep moving!"

Everyone hugged the deck again as the landscape around them was torn apart once more, and once again they were lucky. All of the shells overshot their position by twenty metres or more, tearing apart more buildings with blasts of fire and fury. Thick palls of black smoke were rising into the air from numerous locations ahead of them, shot through by the flickering red spikes of leaping flames as more and more buildings in the street were reduced to fiery heaps of blazing embers and mounds of ashy, blackened rubble.

"All right, let's go!" Luna commanded them, just after the last shell in the salvo had exploded harmlessly off to the right of them, blowing a deep crater in the center of the asphalt road. "Head for the cover of that concrete wall on the other side of the road. It's sheltered from the direct fire of those guns by that big department store!"

"Got it!" Artemis agreed, quickly seeing the advantages of the shielded refuge that Luna had noticed. _"Everybody, go!"_

Everyone sprang back to their feet and dashed forward once again – just as the wailing sound of a fourth volley of falling shells registered in their straining, half deafened ears. Everyone that is, except for Sailor Jupiter.

Makoto had leapt back to her feet at the same time as her friends, ready to move off after them to the comparative safety of the shielding wall and building. But the tall, pony tailed sailor scout had only managed to take a single step forward before she suddenly stiffened rigidly in place as a large hole abruptly appeared in the center of her curvaceous chest and a bright red spray of blood simultaneously blew out of her back. For a second or two she stood thus, a look of shocked incomprehension on her suddenly pale face. Then her green eyes rolled lifelessly backwards, her long legs buckled and the cruelly murdered girl crumpled back down to the ground – just as the first of the salvo of incoming shells struck the debris littered grass only meters away from her sprawled out body. The subsequent series of violent detonations then totally obliterated the position where Sailor Jupiter had stood only seconds before!

-:-:-:-:-:-

As the gas operated, semi automatic reloader chambered another .50 calibre round into the breech of his AS-50 sniper rife, _Oyabun_ Tanaka grinned mirthlessly at the success of his first shot and scanned the area for another target through his powerful scope.

Before he had become _Oyabun_ of the Black Cap Yakuza Clan, Takao Tanaka had originally been a member of the JGSDF 1st Airborne Brigade, based at Narashino, Chiba, before being transferred to the Special Operations Group as a sniper. After leaving the JGSDF to assume command of his father's yakuza clan, he had purchased the best sniper rifle that money could buy for insurance against situations just like this one. And the deadly, British made, AS-50, five shot, .50-calibre rifle, with its attached bipod and telescopic sight, had just proved its worth to him beyond all possible doubt. The sailor senshi may indeed be hard to kill with conventional weapons, but even _they_ were no match for the power of this baby! With its built in, low recoil system; he could accurately hit multiple targets in quick succession at a distance of up to two kilometers away from his hidden position. And the surviving sailor senshi were now well within this range…!

-:-:-:-:-:-

None of the others had seen Sailor Jupiter's shocking fate; they had all been too busy running for their lives from the devastating barrage falling upon them from the hidden artillery battery. But they were about to receive some unexpected help in this regard, and the aid would come from a totally unexpected source.

Hidden to the sailor senshi the big guns may have been – but not to the _Shinigami _circling high overhead. The scanners on board the death craft rapidly zeroed in on the location of the powerful guns, and a pair of Type 87 Chu-MAT laser guided missiles lanced out from the swiftly moving machine, followed by a second salvo of two more, to strike the unsuspecting battery with unerring accuracy! Multiple explosions ripped through the exposed guns as the missiles struck home, the first attack swiftly followed up by the yakuza fighter with a strafing run with the minigun and a pair of precision guided bomblets. Leaving the destroyed artillery pieces and the ammunition trucks blazing merrily behind it, the Shinigami flew silently back towards its prime adversaries.

-:-:-:-:-:-

"Hold it, everybody!" Sailor Venus yelled out from behind the safety of the concrete wall, suddenly noticing the conspicuous absence of a prominent member of their group. "Where's Mako-chan?"

"I don't know?" Luna answered, looking back the way that they had come. "Can you see her, Artemis? _Anyone?"_

"No, I can't," he replied, sounding very troubled. "But she was right behind us, I'm sure of that…!"

"I can't see her, either," Vincent S declared, for once sounding _very_ worried as he stood up again for a better look. "But if she's not here, that must mean…? _Oh, no…!"_

"_Ohmygod,_ she must have been hit by one of those explosions!" Sailor Moon screamed out, collapsing onto her knees. _"Mako-chan! Maaako-chaaan!!"_

Instantly Sailor Venus was at her side, cradling Usagi's distraught body in her arms. Locked together for comfort, the two sailor scouts began to cry bitter tears as the reality of their latest loss sunk in to their numbed minds. Diana slunk into Luna's arms and she began to cry as well. Braving any further shells, Artemis and Vincent S ran back out into the open onto the battered, heavily cratered field in a desperate search for any sign of their missing companion, to return a few minutes later with downcast eyes and unsmiling faces, their slumped bodies signalling their lack of success just as obviously as if they had shouted it out loud.

"Was there…any sign left of her body at all?" Luna inquired, still hugging her kitten to her.

Artemis shook his head sadly, as did Vincent S as he crouched down beside the three cats. "Just this," He told her sorrowfully. Opening his huge hand, Vincent S showed her a golden tiara with a bright green gem still sparkling in its mounting on the front.

At the sight of the pitiful remnant of their dear friend's outfit, Luna sniffed loudly, trying hard but failing to keep back her own tears. After accepting the tiara, she dematerialized it for safekeeping.

"There was one other thing that I found out there," Artemis told his grieving friends and family. "It was a strange, green gem, about the size of a golf ball but faceted like a diamond, and it was just floating in mid air over that big crater over there to our left, not far from where Vincent found Makoto's tiara. I don't know what it is, but I dematerialized that big green gem as well. If we survive this, I'll have to find time to analyze it later and see if I can make any sense of it…! But that was all I found… I'm afraid that Makoto's gone, guys…"

At his sorrowful news, Usagi and Minako began to sob loudly again, as did Diana, keening softly against her mother's furry and still damp chest. Quickly Artemis embraced his family, trying hard to give them both a measure of comfort in their grief.

"Poor Makoto, she deserved a better fate than this, especially after surviving all that she had been through just before," Luna finally said, drying her tears with an effort. "But our priority now must be to keep the other girls and Diana safe, and to somehow bring down that damned yakuza flying machine!"

"Well, at least the artillery bombardment of us has stopped – for a while at least?" Artemis stated, looking around at their shattered, but now peaceful surroundings.

"Good," Luna said, gently releasing her tiny daughter and standing back up again. "We'd best move out right now, before the shelling starts again. Artemis? What do you suggest that we do, now?"

"_What you are all going to do, now, is die, just like your friend!"_ A strange voice suddenly boomed out from above them! "Even if you _can_ talk, black cat, you are still going to die!"

"_What the heck?"_ Vincent S murmured in a startled voice, then his keen eyes noticed a disturbance in the sky behind them. "Look! Coming through the smoke above that building! It's the yakuza machine!"

Everyone stared upwards to espy a frightening black shape looming out of the turbulent plumes of smoke and showers of orange sparks that were rolling upwards behind the fragmented buildings. Then the strange looking fighting machine halted, to hover menacingly in mid air some twenty meters away from the demoralized little band sheltering behind the low concrete wall.

"_Sailor Moon! Sailor Venus! Be on your toes!"_ Luna hissed at the two girls as they released each other and rolled apart. Regaining their feet, both sailor scouts gazed teary-eyed towards their nemesis, their grief rapidly being replaced with anger.

"I'm ready, Luna," Sailor Venus growled, her entire body tense.

"S-so am I," Sailor Moon confirmed, her Moon sceptre twitching nervously in her right hand as she aimed it unsteadily towards the scary looking black plane.

"My _Shinigami_ took out the field guns that were firing on you, and I personally killed your slow sailor friend in the green outfit," the hidden voice continued with satisfaction, issuing out of some hidden speaker on the twenty foot long stealth craft. "But before you all start to think that I did you sailor senshi a favor by sending the _Shinigami_ that you can see right now in front of you to destroy the artillery position, understand that I only did it so that I could have the pleasure of killing you all, myself!"

"So, _you _killed Mako-chan!" the wild eyed Sailor Venus accused the disembodied voice coming from the sinister machine floating above their heads. Unable to contain her anger any longer, she aimed her fingers at the _Shinigami,_ and cried out in a voice filled with loathing and frustration, _"Crescent Beam Smash!!"_

"_I'll kill you for what you've done to my friend!"_ Sailor Moon screamed out, simultaneously throwing up her Moon sceptre. _"Moon Spiral Heart Attack!!"_

The lethal yellow laser beam fired by the furious blonde struck the _Shinigami _head on, only to reflect off the shimmering hull at an angle, disappearing away harmlessly through the rolling smoke. Nor did Sailor Moon's attack do any better, the spiralling pink heart shaped energy discharge split in two as it struck the black hull, then fell away on either side of the totally unharmed machine, crumbling away like a dissolving jigsaw puzzle into nothingness!

"Is that the best that you two uppity pieces of fluff can do?" the voice chuckled. "Try again, sailor girls!"

"Oh, yeah? Then try _this_ on for size?! _Venus Love and Beauty Shock!!"_

"_Moon Tiara Action!!"_

The yellow plasma ball thrown by Sailor Venus packed enough punch to demolish a house – and that was precisely what it _did_ do, after bouncing off the side of the floating _Shinigami,_ the crackling ball flew down at an angle into the buildings further along the street! Sailor Moon's accurately thrown tiara also ricocheted violently off the impervious black hull, back down into the concrete wall right in front of her!

"_Waaaah!"_ Usagi shrieked, diving away just in time, the resulting explosion showering her and the others with a cloud of pulverised concrete dust. The de-energized tiara bounced high into the air and then fell down with a thud right on top of her pigtailed blonde head.

"_Oww!"_

"_Hah, ha, ha, ha, ha!_ Fire all you like, it won't do you any good," the voice mocked them. "My _Shinigami _Death Craft has been designed to be impervious to your sailor senshi powers – _all _of your powers! And it is here for one reason only, to kill all of you as an example to what happens to enemies of the Black Cap Yakuza Clan!"

"So who are you, anyway?" Artemis shouted back in frustration as Sailor Moon snatched up her tiara again with annoyance. "Come on, identify yourself!"

"Another talking cat? _Remarkable!_ But as to who I am, strange adversary, I am _Oyabun_ Tanaka, head of the Black Cap Yakuza Clan."

"We didn't start this war, _Oyabun,_ your men did," Artemis told him with feeling. "To be precise, Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda and the rest of the Juuban branch did, when they kidnapped and abused two of our friends! Then they attacked and destroyed the Hikawa shrine, home to another friend of ours! Is it any wonder that we're pissed?!"

"Understandable. But now, so am I! You have all caused me too much damage and losses in both men and materials over the last couple of days for me to either forgive or forget what you have cost us. And so, because of that, I am going to eliminate you as a factor in my future planning. Prepare to die!"

As he spoke, the twin missile ports on the Shinigami slid open and the craft adjusted its position slightly in preparation to fire!

"Everyone get behind me," Vincent S advised them. "That thing can't hurt me easily, and I can shield you from the worst of the blast!"

"Diana, _run!"_ Luna quietly told her daughter. "Artemis, you too! Girls, do as Vincent says and get behind him! Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, do you both think that you can hit the inside of those open missile tubes?"

"I can, Luna," Minako whispered back as Diana and Artemis raced away towards safety behind the wall.

"So can I," Sailor Moon confirmed in a determined tone, hefting the tiara again.

"I see that you are all bunching together?" the Oyabun stated with surprise. _"Stupid_. But I guess that it only makes it easier for me? Any last requests?"

"_Now, scouts!"_ Luna hissed.

"Yeah, shut up!" Sailor Venus shouted, aiming along her arms from under Vincent S's left arm. _"Crescent Beam Smash!!" _At the exact same time, Sailor Moon stepped back out from behind the towering man and flung her glowing tiara once again.

"_Moon Tiara Action!!"_

This time, their results were far more spectacular. The laser beam fired by Sailor Venus struck the warhead of the first missile just as it was launched from the firing tube! The resulting mid air detonation staggered the _Shinigami_, just as Sailor Moon's hard thrown tiara struck and exploded inside the open port holding the second missile, jamming it and preventing its launch!

While damaged, the rocking _Shinigami_ was far from being destroyed by their cunning attack, or even incapacitated. The third port opened and the multi-barrelled minigun deployed, flaming into life as it targeted them. Vincent S and his ultra tough trench coat absorbed the force of the deadly stream of hot bullets, until _Oyabun_ Tanaka finally realized the futility of continuing the attack and ordered the _Shinigami_ to cease its fire.

"Well, now, it looks like we've reached an impasse?" Luna called up to the silently hovering fighter, jumping easily up onto the top of the damaged concrete wall. "Are you ready to negotiate with us, yet, _Oyabun_ Tanaka-sama?"

"Me? _Never!_ I had no idea that you sailor senshi had employed the services of an 'Invincible' to help you out! But that doesn't matter as I'm far from being beaten by you yet. If I can't kill you all in one way, I'll do it in another. And this method should work on you as well, big man!"

"_And that way is?"_ Artemis asked, rejoining Luna on top of the bullet and missile scarred remains of the concrete wall.

"I take it that you two amazing animals are familiar with what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki?" the _Oyabun_ declared triumphantly through the undamaged speaker to them. "Well, the explosion here won't be anywhere near as big, but it will be a mushroom cloud just the same! And it will be your funeral pyre!"


	24. Chapter 24

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON: DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

At _Oyabun_ Takao Tanaka's terrifying pronouncement of impending nuclear apocalypse, everybody froze and glanced uneasily back and forth amongst themselves, every eye now full of uncertainty and fear.

"You're bluffing," Artemis finally shouted back, lashing his tail, his tone betraying his uncertainty as to the truth of what he had just heard. "Everybody knows that Japan doesn't possess any atomic weaponry – and so neither do you. That capability was banned by international treaty after the Second World War!"

"You don't honestly believe that a country as technologically advanced as Japan doesn't have the atomic bomb, do you?" _Oyabun_ Tanaka laughed. "How naive! The Japanese government has had nuclear weapons capability for over twenty years, now. They're not going to admit to the world to having it, of course – the components of the bombs are all compartmentalized and stored in different high security locations, so the politicians can claim, quite truthfully, that they don't possess any nuclear weapons at all. But it would only take them a few hours to assemble the weapons into fully working atomic devices if an extraordinary and developing situation were to warrant such a response."

Artemis and Luna exchanged _very_ worried looks now, and the hair along their backs prickled with terror. The voice of the _Shinigami_ controller held a ring of truth about it, and his story was plausible – _very_ plausible…! Japan could easily – _and very probably did_ – have some sort of nuclear weaponry along the lines that the _Oyabun_ had just described to them…!

"Okay, let's just say that we believe you?" Luna called out. "But what proof do we have that you have managed to obtain one of these devices? You can't just stroll into a corner shop and pick up a working atomic bomb, you know?!"

The _Oyabun_ laughed again, enjoying seeing his adversaries squirm. "I have secret friends in high places, you see – including some in the top secret atomic research labs," he explained. "Over the course of a number of years, and through spending vast amounts of money, we have managed to beg, borrow or steal every component needed – including the enriched uranium – to assemble one small nuclear device of our own. That bomb has now been incorporated into the _Shinigami_ – and now you have a fully armed and working atomic bomb floating right there above your heads!"

"_Luna, Artemis, we've got to get the heck out of here,"_ Sailor Venus gasped out in horror, well aware of the ramifications of what she had just heard. _"If he detonates that thing, this entire area will be vaporized – and us with it!"_

"_Waaaah!"_ Sailor Moon cried out. "That's cheating! I don't wanna play any more!"

"Quick, Artemis!" Luna hissed to him. "Do you think that we have time to sailor-teleport out of there before that _Shinigami_ craft of his detonates? The atomic bomb on board it must have a timer, to ensure the survival of any friendly forces nearby in case of accidental activation, so…?"

"Very clever, black cat," the _Oyabun_ admitted, impressed despite himself, the onboard microphone having picked up Luna's comment and relayed it on through his earphones. "The _Shinigami_ does indeed have such a failsafe device. Not that this knowledge will do you any good, of course…!"

"_All right, let's go!"_ Luna yelled, hope in her voice at their chance of a miraculous escape from their certain doom. _"Form the circle, everybody!"_

Even as everyone ran forward to form the sailor-teleport circle, a shrill, screeching noise suddenly assailed their ears from the hovering death machine above them. The continuous, highly pitched sound seemed to bore directly into their brains, almost stopping all coherent thought with its mind-numbing intensity!

"_Yeeeowtch! What's that horrible noise?!"_ Sailor Moon cried out, white-gloved hands clamped _hard_ over her sensitive ears as she dropped to her bruised knees. "I can't concentrate!"

"_It's some sort of high pitched sound wave,"_ Artemis yelled back, paws firmly over his own ears. _"It must be designed to prevent us concentrating hard enough to sailor-teleport out of his trap!"_

"_Artemis, it hurts!"_ Sailor Venus wailed, almost rolling on the ground with pain. "Somebody make it stop!"

"How are you enjoying my sonic screamer?" the now much louder and booming voice from the _Shinigami _machine asked them, its tone redolent of amusement. "As you can see – or rather _hear_ - it is useless for you to try to flee by teleporting out of here! There is no way in the world that you can concentrate enough to teleport out of my clutches with that racket assailing your ears!"

"_He's – got – a – point!"_ Vincent S grimaced. _"This noise is getting even to me…!"_

"And it is useless for you to try running away on foot as well," _Oyabun_ Tanaka continued. "My _Shinigami_ will follow you wherever you may try to go. And you would do well to consider this further fact - the area of the park here has been pretty well destroyed by our fight, and you can bet that an area for several square kilometers around your location has been totally evacuated by the remaining local police and the army of all civilians by now as well. So, apart from you, when I detonate my small atomic bomb at this location the civilian casualties here will be even less than minimal. So, just make it easy on yourselves. Give it up and accept your fate!"

"_Never!"_ Sailor Venus screamed up at the machine. _"We'll find a way to stop you, I swear it!"_

"Well, you only have just over ten minutes left to find a way to do it," the _Oyabun's_ voice smugly told her. "I have just activated the countdown sequence for the onboard atomic bomb! So you can just kiss your perky little ass goodbye, Sweets!"

"_Bastard!! You'll get yours!"_

"_Hold on, everybody,"_ Luna suddenly declared, removing her paws momentarily from over her ears, almost shouting so that the others could hear her voice over the shrill scream of the sonic device. _"I have an idea!"_ Quickly the black cat did a somersault in the air, and a number of pairs of high quality earplugs instantly dropped out of nothingness onto the grass in front of them.

"_Here, everybody. Put these into your ears. They should block out the sound of that sonic scream enough for us to be able to teleport out of here!"_

"_Good thinking, Luna,"_ Artemis praised her. _"Quick, let's do it!"_

But even as they all grabbed the earplugs and quickly began fitting them into their ears, the _Oyabun_ saw what they were doing through his portable closed circuit video monitor. He grinned and thumbed the speaker button. They weren't going to escape his clutches by that method, either!

"So, you are trying that teleport trick again, with earplugs this time? _Ha, ha, ha, hah! Clever!_ But not clever enough! For if you _do _succeed in escaping from this location before the detonation countdown is complete, I will immediately send _Shinigami_ over the centre of the Juuban residential district and blow it up there instead! So what do you have to say to that? Will you stay here in an empty park in an evacuated area and accept your punishment, or condemn thousands of people – including your own families and friends – to a horrible death in an atomic blast? The choice is yours…?"

Everybody looked at each other again, realizing just what that would mean to the helpless population of their district. If the _Oyabun_ were to carry out his threat, the sheer number of casualties would be enormous…!

"_Damn,"_ Artemis sighed out in his normal voice as the horrible sound beating down from the sinister black craft above them suddenly ceased so that the triumphant leader of the Black Cap yakuza could more easily hear their conversation. "He's got us. There's no way that we could ever let _that_ happen, guys…"

"So it's either us, or all of them?" Luna remarked, a great weariness now in her voice. "Oh, dear! Well, I guess that we have no choice at all, now, do we…?"

"_None at all,"_ the gloating voice of the _Oyabun_ emphasized to his despondent and trapped adversaries. "_None – at – all!"_

At that precise moment, just when things looked to be at their blackest for the remnants of the sailor senshi, the gods of fate must have decided that the pendulum of fate had swung too far in one direction and so promptly acted to balance the scales once again.

Vincent S, for one, had no intention at all of just giving up without a damn good fight. But, as the _Shinigami _was floating high up in the smoky air well out of his reach, the huge man had no way of getting to it. His superhuman strength was totally useless in this situation – _or was it?_

Whilst glancing around in search of inspiration, his eyes had fallen upon a vaguely familiar looking shape – a shape, he quickly realized that could save them all – but only if he played this wildcard that he had unexpectedly been dealt, exactly right…!

_There was an unexploded howitzer shell laying there, half buried in the soil only two metres away from him!_

Rolling over so that his body was between the camera of the yakuza machine and the howitzer shell, his big right hand reached out and carefully grasped the _very_ dangerous object. For his risky plan to work, he needed to be able to do two crucial things. Number one, regain his feet with the live shell carefully hidden away out of sight of the _Shinigami's_ controller. Two, he had to move a respectable distance away from the others, just in case the shell was to unexpectedly go off in his hand as he was throwing it! If that were to happen, the end result would probably be fatal to at least one of the two sailor scouts sitting next to him – tough though they were in their senshi forms - and _definitely_ fatal to all three of the guardian cats!

"What are you doing, Vincent-san?" Sailor Venus asked him, puzzlement in her voice as he began to rise up to his feet.

"Damned if I'm going to die just sitting down here on the grass," he told her, which was true enough. "I'm going over there to sit on the concrete wall and reflect on what I _could_ have been doing right now."

"I'll come with you," she offered, beginning to stand up as well.

"No, you'd best stay here with Sailor Moon," Vincent S said out loud, turning his back to the yakuza fighter. Once his face was hidden from the view of its sensors, he mouthed quietly to her, "I've got a plan! Don't look too happy as I tell you this, but I think that I can bring that thing down. But I need to be able to move well away from the rest of you, in case something goes wrong and you get hurt!"

"Oh! Okay, Vincent-san," Minako said, also loudly, controlling her surprise and elation with a visible effort. "I'll stay here and look after Bunny-chan, then?"

"Yes, I won't be long. Just be prepared if something goes wrong, okay?"

"Okay, Vincent-san."

"What's going on, Minako-chan?" Usagi asked, looking up at the two with both puzzlement and fear warring for prominence on her beautiful face.

"I'll tell you after, Bunny-chan," Minako hastily told her, sitting back down and taking her inquisitive girlfriend into her arms once again. "If we are going to die in only a couple of minutes, I want to do it holding on to you, my one dear love…!"

Sailor Moon sniffed and clung even tighter to her lover as Minako rested her long blonde tresses against her shoulder. "Not long now, Minako-chan," she whispered. "I'm scared and I don't want to die, but with you here next to me – at least we'll never be parted ever again…?"

"With a stroke of luck, we'll never be parted ever again, _alive,"_ Minako whispered quietly into Usagi's right ear. "Keep calm, Bunny-chan, but something's going down, right now! Just be prepared to fight, okay? Vincent-san is about to do his thing!"

"_All right!"_ Sailor Moon hissed, beginning to tremble with excitement at the totally unexpected good news. "I'm ready, right now! With you at my side, we can accomplish anything!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

At the exact same time as Vincent S and Sailor Venus had been hatching their plan, the three guardian cats had been talking anxiously amongst themselves. Artemis and Luna weren't exactly in favor of dying in an atomic blast, but they liked the idea of their only child being vaporized with them even less.

"Mommy, Daddy, are we all going to die?" Diana plaintively asked them, looking up into the gloomy faces of her parents for probably the last time.

"Yes, Diana, I'm afraid that we very probably are," Luna told her. "Come and give me a hug and close your eyes. If we don't think of something extremely clever, right now, we'll all be having a very, _very _long rest…!"

"Hold on, Luna. Diana doesn't have to die here with the rest of us," Artemis told them. "The _Oyabun_ isn't going to blow up Juuban just because a kitten makes a run for it – and he can't detonate the atomic bomb over us any faster than he is doing it already! Diana, you've got less than ten minutes to get out of the blast range of this device. _Can you do it?!"_

"_I – I don't know, Daddy?" _Diana replied, looking hesitantly at his serious face. "But I don't want to leave you all-!"

"This is no time to be noble, Diana," Luna snapped at her. "Your life is at stake here. Do as Artemis tells you, and run!"

"_I-!_ Yes, Mama…!"

"Diana! Your best bet is to head into the city, here, and then get underground as fast as you can. Follow a stormwater pipe away from here and once it is all over, go back to Usagi's parents house. They'll look after you from now on, and once the Outer senshi get here, chances are they'll be able to find you there, okay?'

"Yes, Daddy-!"

A sudden double explosion cut off the kitten's words in mid-sentence. As one, the three cats spun around, their mouths falling open with amazement and glee at what they saw as they stared up towards the yakuza craft…!

-:-:-:-:-:-

Once he had moved along the concrete wall to what he considered to be a sufficient distance away from the others to mitigate the effects of any screw up on his behalf, Vincent S casually reached under his huge trench coat and grasped the live howitzer round that he had placed inside one of the built in pockets of his super tough garment. Then, after carefully measuring the distance between himself and the _Shinigami_ with his eyes, Vincent S withdrew the powerful live round out from under its concealment, determined to strike a telling blow on the doomsday machine with his improvised but lethal weapon.

When he judged the moment to be right, the giant man leapt forward, hurling the warhead with all of his considerable strength directly at the jammed open missile port on the right hand side of the _Shinigami._ And his aim was true – and also very lucky. The high velocity howitzer shell smashed directly into the nosecone of the live missile. Instantly, both shell and missile warhead exploded in double fireballs of sound and fury!

The yakuza _Shinigami_ was tough, but not _that_ tough! Smoke and flames poured out of the impact point, a secondary explosion sent sheets of sparks flaring out of the cracked hull. The _Shinigami_ abruptlysoared up higher into the smoky sky above them as the _Oyabun_ fought for control over its shorting-out guidance system. And then the sinister war machine spiralled down out of the sky in a death dive, to smash at a steep angle into the soft ground further out on the grassy field less than fifty metres away from their position, half burying itself into the loam in a shower of dirt and turf with the force of its impact.

"_It's down,"_ Artemis yelled, new hope in his blue eyes at this most fortuitous development. "I've got to get over there, right now! There's still a chance that I can disarm the onboard atomic bomb before it blows and vaporizes most of Arisugawa Park, the library and us!"

"Go, Artemis," Luna urged him. "I don't think that there's any other yakuza in our vicinity apart from their _Oyabun_, so it should be safe enough for you to break cover. But we'll follow you over there as well and the sailor scouts will give you covering fire if you need it!"

"I'm on my way!" Leaping out of the crater, the white cat hared off in a zigzag pattern across the cratered turf towards the downed, still smoking craft. Quickly and carefully, the other five members of their little war band followed in his wake, darting from cover to cover in an effort to minimize their chances of being hit by any hidden enemies that – despite the imminent danger of nuclear catastrophe – might be still within rifle range.

-:-:-:-:-:-

From his hidden position in a clearing on a tree covered knoll on the far side of Arisugawa Park, almost a kilometer and a half away, the leader of the Black Cap yakuza noticed, through his telescopic sight, the movement of his foes out from behind the concrete wall into a new, more open position. Despite the shock loss of the _Shinigami,_ the _Oyabun_ in his camouflaged radiation suit was still very confident of his ultimate victory. After all, he still had one totally unexpected Ace left up his sleeve and he intended to make full use of it, right now. The sailor senshi would still all die – if the atomic weapon failed to go off for some reason, their deaths would just be in a slightly slower manner than he had originally envisioned.

Cradling the stock of his AS-50 sniper rifle to his right shoulder, _Oyabun_ Tanaka took careful aim at Sailor Moon, her slender figure clearly visible to him through the powerful sniper scope. The crosshairs settled on her pretty head as she crouched down in a crater. In her new spot, Sailor Moon would be safe from any bullets coming towards her from her front, but from this angle…? _She wouldn't even know what had hit her._

When he was sure that he had the back of her head perfectly framed in his sights, the Boss of the Black Cap yakuza gently squeezed the trigger – just as the girl turned to stare directly towards him, a look of horrified comprehension on her pale face.

The deadly sniper rifle jerked back and spat flame. Then, before _Oyabun_ Tanaka could even remove his eye from the powerful telescopic sight, he glimpsed a sailor-suited presence off to the left front of his position!

"_You!"_ he gasped out, recognising with shock the figure in front of him far too late to do anything to save himself from what he knew was coming.

"_Die!"_ The shape spat out, raising its arms.

And that was just what he did.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Reaching the badly damaged flying machine, Artemis ran up its side to where a hatch had sprung open at the force of its impact with the ground, exposing a row of winking lights and a couple of USB Ports which would allow him access to the _Shinigami's_ Central Processing Unit. Summoning his small supercomputer, the white cat quickly plugged a data access cable into one of the USB ports and then switched the computer on, quickly bringing up a schematic of the insides of the dangerously advanced killing machine onto his screen. Then he set to work, typing frantically on the simplified keyboard of his sophisticated product of thirtieth century technology, using voice commands were practicable, speedily and efficiently discovering the way to disarm the small atomic device – if he could only manage to do it in time!

"_I'm not going to make it, Luna,"_ Artemis gasped out frantically to his partner, who was staring anxiously up at him from the soil splashed ground below his perch. _"I can disarm this bomb all right, but there's only twenty seconds left until its detonation! I don't quite have enough time!"_

In her position in the crater, Usagi abruptly jerked her head up and looked around at her surroundings warily. Somehow the sailor scout of the moon had just sensed that she was in grave danger. _No,_ Usagi realized as an icy fist seemed to clutch at her heart, _this is more than that…!_ For she _knew_ without a shadow of a doubt that she was about to die…!

The doomed Usagi's blue eyes opened wide in horror!

And then – everything stopped.

_The huge .50 calibre bullet was just hanging there motionless in mid-air, only inches away from her right eye!_

All sound, all movement had gone. The world was frozen in place like a giant three-dimensional photograph. Sweat pouring from her face at her _extremely_ narrow escape; Sailor Moon crawled hurriedly out of the trajectory of the lethal, frozen bullet.

"Time has been stopped," Luna whispered, "For everybody except us few right here. That could only mean…!"

_"It's Sailor Pluto!"_ Artemis finished for her with overwhelming relief from his perch on the sprung access hatch on the crashed _Shinigami_ death craft. "And I've just got this last chip here to pull out – _done it!_ My computer says that the _Shinigami_ has been totally disarmed! Thanks to Sailor Pluto stopping time, w_e and the city are safe!"_

As a ragged cheer of joy and absolute relief erupted from the battered little group as they stared upwards, they suddenly espied not only Sailor Pluto holding her Garnet Rod Staff, but also the much smaller shape of Sailor Saturn with her Silence Glaive hovering only ten meters away from and above their heavily-cratered position.

"_Yay!!"_ Despite her wounds and exhaustion, Sailor Moon managed a second cheer of joy. "Chibiusa-chan got through and found you! _Hey!_ But where is she? Didn't she come back with you?"

"Greetings, everybody. Sailor Moon, Chibiusa-chan _wanted_ to come back to be with you right here and now, but Neo-Queen Serenity insisted that she remain there in Crystal Tokyo for safety's sake for the time being," Sailor Pluto told them. "She put up a good argument but the Queen got her way in the end."

"That was wise," Luna agreed, looking around for the other two outer senshi. "But where are Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune? Aren't they with you, either?"

"Actually, they are approximately 4.5 billion miles away from here right now, intercepting a UFO that is in orbit around Triton, the largest moon of Michiru-san's home planet, Neptune. They are there to try to determine if it is hostile and to take appropriate action if it is. That is why you have been unable to contact them for the last couple of days."

"We could really have done with their help, you know," Artemis declared. "Before we lost so many of the other senshi! Is that why you're here now – to help put things right?"

"But I thought that you were forbidden to stop time?" Luna asked in a suspicious tone. "Setsuna, have you…_broken your oath, again?"_

Sailor Pluto sighed. "Yes, Luna, I have. It was either that or see Sailor Moon get her head blown clean off, and then the rest of you die in that atomic bomb blast that Artemis has just prevented!"

"Well _we're _all certainly glad that you did, Young Lady. You and Sailor Saturn arrived here just in the nick of time! But that can't be all there is to it? You'd best explain what's going to now happen to the world – _and to you."_

"It sounds like you know more than you're letting on, Luna," Sailor Moon asked her cat. "What _is_ going on?"

"Shush, Usagi," Luna hushed her. "Let Sailor Pluto speak."

"This timeline of sorrow, despair and destruction is now beyond our saving," Sailor Pluto declared solemnly, a deep sadness in her voice. "Too many of us have died, the existence of the future Moon Kingdom is now in jeopardy, so it cannot be allowed to progress any further. I, with the help of Sailor Saturn, have the power to fix it – to alter the events that have brought about this unnecessary and bloody war - and I have already set the first steps of this healing into motion. But I shall pay dearly for betraying my oaths and altering events that have already happened in the real, natural flow of time – Hotaru-chan will too, for willingly helping me."

"_Sailor Pluto,"_ Sailor Moon cried out in appeal, forcing her battered body back up onto her shaky feet. _"What have you done? And what will happen to you and Sailor Saturn?"_

"Hotaru-chan will ensure that this variation of our timeline will ceast to exist, we both will vanish at the exact same moment of its ending into our exile. The earth and everyone on it – including our lost friends - will continue on along an altered version of our real timeline as events reorder themselves from the key point several days ago when this sequence of events began. Neither you, nor any one else on earth will have any memory of what has transpired here today, for it will never truly have happened – but Sailor Saturn and I will be no longer be here to see it."

"For our transgressions, my father Chronos, the God of Time, has decreed that I am to lose my power to travel through time, and we are to be banished from earth to…the far, unknown ends of our galaxy. There, utterly lost and alone, we will be abandoned to our fate."

"_But that's just not fair,"_ Sailor Moon wailed out in protest, taking a wobbly step forward and raising her hands in appeal. "You two save our future, and you are going to be _punished_ for it? Where's the justice in that? _I demand a recount!!"_

"The word of Chronos is law. Not even Neo-Queen Serenity can ignore it, or go against his wishes with impunity."

"_But-?!"_

"Don't worry, Sailor Moon," Sailor Saturn called down to her in as cheerful a voice as she could muster. "We will be fine, even though we will no longer be here with you. I'll miss you all, and when you see her again, tell Chibiusa-chan goodbye from us. Tell her that we're sorry that we couldn't say goodbye to her in person."

"_Good-goodbye…! Hotaru-chan, Setsuna-san, Chibiusa-chan's going to miss you both so much… I'll miss you both so much!"_

"Goodbye, Sailor Moon," Sailor Pluto called gently down to her. _"Dear Princess, we'll miss you._ Goodbye Sailor Venus! Vincent S, thanks for your help in saving them. Luna, Artemis, this nightmare of loss and pain for you will soon be at an end. Rejoice in your new beginning. Goodbye and good luck with the future that we now leave in your hands."

"Best wishes, Sailor Pluto, Sailor Saturn," Luna called out to them, tears in her eyes. "You've been a godsend."

"We'll protect the future for you," Artemis added. "We promise! Goodbye!"

Sailor Pluto smiled down at them, and then looked down at Sailor Saturn. Catching her cue from her older guardian, Hotaru nodded, turned and raised her Silence Glaive of doom high above her head.

"_Death Reborn Revolution!!"_

Then she swung it…!

A pinpoint of intense white light suddenly flashed into an all-enveloping glare that was brighter than the sun! The world turned to dazzling white and then…there was nothing. _Nothing at all._

-:-:-:-:-:-

In the past, last Friday night…

_My name is Usagi Tsukino, my friends call me Bunny. I'm a lazy fifteen-year-old Juuban Middle School student - and I especially hate doing homework! I should have done it before dinner, like Chibiusa did. But I got distracted somehow, and now am I paying for it! I'm really late meeting up with my friends, now. WAAAAH!"_

On and on Usagi berated herself as she hared off up the road, her two very long, blond pigtails streaming out behind her like the twin contrails from a jet as she pounded along the pavement.

"_Hey Usagi-chan,"_ a sudden voice called out to her just as she was about to take her usual shortcut through the dark and gloomy alley. _"Over here!"_

Skidding to a halt as she heard the voice, Usagi suddenly felt as if a sudden shock had passed fleetingly through her. For a split second it seemed almost as if the entire world had – flickered for a split second…! Then she whirled around, to spot an older, taller girl with wavy, sea green hair watching her with a wide smile of greeting on her face.

"_Michiru-san!"_ Usagi burst out in surprise, forgetting the odd sensation that she had momentarily felt as her sparkling blue eyes widened at the sight of her older friend. "I haven't seen you in ages! So what are _you_ doing here at this time of night?"

"I'm just about to leave to go and pick Haruka-san up," came the answer. We've got to leave town on – on_ an urgent business trip._ Hey, you look like you're in a real hurry. Do you need a lift?"

"_Yes, please,"_ Usagi beamed, turning away from the alley entrance and hurrying across the street to where her older friend was leaning casually against the side of Haruka's yellow convertible sports car. "I was supposed to meet the others at Rei-chan's place an hour ago, but I got stuck doing my homework. Now I'm really, _really _late, and worst of all, all of Mako-chan's snacks will be gone by now too!"

"I suppose that your gang _will_ be starting to worry about you by now as well?" Michiru guessed. "Come on, Usagi-chan, hop in! I'll drop you off at the Hikawa shrine. I have to go past there to pick up Haruka-san anyway, so it won't be any trouble."

"Oh, Boy! What a stroke of luck it was for me to run into you just now," Usagi bubbled, jumping into the passenger side of the sleek, turbocharged car. "I would have been in real trouble otherwise!"

At her excited words, Michiru Kaiou smiled grimly to herself. _Lucky? More than you will ever know, Usagi…more than you will ever know._

-:-:-:-:-:-

Near the far end of the dark and deserted alley, well hidden in the inky black shadows, a frustrated figure was growing increasingly more impatient as the minutes stretched on and on. It was getting cold in this godforsaken alley and worst of all he was running out of whiskey to drink. Finally draining the last of the bottle of Scotch that he was carrying in a single gulp, he flipped the empty bottle upside down, shook it and then stared at it in disgust.

"Hell! There's no blond schoolgirl going to come down here," he told himself bitterly. "That cloaked bastard back at that bar lied to me. What a total waste of my time…!"

"But not of mine," came a sudden, deep voice nearby.

At the sudden, unexpected sound, the lurker involuntarily jumped in alarm and he swivelled around, drunken eyes trying to focus on the source of the hidden voice.

"Who the hell are you?" the yakuza snapped out, his temper rising at the sudden shock that he had received. "_Where_ are you? Get out here where I can see you!"

"As you wish."

The hidden speaker stepped out of the shadows. To his surprise, despite the voice having been masculine in timbre, Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda found himself facing under the bright moonlight a tall, willowy, short haired blonde woman wearing what looked to be a very short-skirted sailor outfit.

"I understand that you like to rape young schoolgirls," the figure declared in disgust. "Care to try _me_ on for size?"

"Hmm," 'Cream Man' said, eyeing up her statuesque figure. She was tall – as tall as he was, but he guessed that he was almost twice her weight – a safe bet. "You're not the girl that I was expecting, but you'll do just fine!" Smashing the empty bottle against the metal rubbish skip, he hefted the jagged remains by the neck and advanced towards her with an anticipatory leer on his shadowy face. "Now, are you going to make this easy and give it up to me peacefully, or do I have to get a little rough?"

"That's the last mistake that you'll ever make, _Hentai,"_ Haruka smiled grimly at him. "You're never even going to _get _the chance to start the Sailor/Yakuza war that killed half of my friends and scarred the others for life. Now…_just die!_ _Uranus World Shaking!!"_

-:-:-:-:-:-

It was quite warm on that last Wednesday night, and in Arisugawa Park, Tuxedo Kamen had decided silently to himself that he could have quite willingly gone without his heavy, winter cape tonight. He was fine with wearing it when it was actually cold, but on an unexpectedly warm night such as this one its extra weight was not only unnecessary, but it also tended to restrict his movements somewhat and that could be fatal in a serious fight.

So when he had been attracted to the forested park by a premonition of danger, and had spotted the unexpected bright glow radiating out from the recently installed monolithic circle of standing stones in a small grassy clearing amongst the trees, the masked, tuxedo wearing crime fighter had seriously considered leaving the heavy incumbrance behind before he entered the brightly shining stone circle to confront whatever might be causing the eerie radiance. But before he could drop his black and red cloak or step forward into the luminous white light, a small voice suddenly called out to him from the shadows behind one of the bulky trees to his rear!

Tuxedo Kamen whirled around, an energy charged red rose in his hand ready to throw at a split seconds notice! But to his surprise, instead of an enemy, the small, cheerily familiar shapes of Chibiusa-chan and Luna Ball P appeared from behind a tree onto the path in front of him.

"Hi, Mamoru-san," she said, her red eyes huge in the bright light pouring from the huge granite stones. "What are you doing?"

"Chibiusa-chan!" He gasped out, striding towards the small, pink haired girl. "What are you doing here at this time of night so far away from your house? Even if you have got Luna Ball P here with you, this is no place for you to be, especially after midnight!"

"I'm all right, Tuxedo Kamen," she reassured him as they hugged each other tightly. "But can you please take me home now? Bunny-chan doesn't know that I'm out here all by myself tonight, and I'm sure that if she wakes up, she'll be really worried about me?"

Tuxedo Kamen hesitated at her words, and looked back at the still glowing stones of the circle. He should really check it out, but then again, he couldn't just leave little Chibiusa all alone in the middle of the pitch-black Arisugawa Park.

"Okay, Chibiusa-chan. I'd best take you home, straight away. I can check out this stone ring another time, anyway. Come on, let's go before you catch a cold!"

Smiling, Chibiusa took his big, white-gloved hand in hers and they walked quickly off along the bollard illuminated stone path that wound off through the sturdy black trunks of the overhanging deciduous trees towards the distant road.

As the pair disappeared from sight amongst the trees, a slender, black haired figure in a blue and white sailor suit hove into view high above the still shining stone circle. Riding the air currents over thirty meters above the night clad landscape; Sailor Saturn aimed her Silence Glaive downward at the open dimensional portal and whispered, _"Silence Glaive Apply!"_

Soundlessly, the luminescent edifice crumbled into piles of ash and vapor under her lethal, aerial energy blow.

"And that tidies up the last loose end," Sailor Saturn told herself with both satisfaction and nervousness in her voice. "Now it's time for Sailor Pluto and myself to bring the real timeline to an end, and then face the music, I guess…?"

-:-:-:-:-:-

Saturday morning dawned fine and clear. In the alley where Sailor Uranus had confronted the lurking yakuza hit man the previous night, and only a few metres away from the blackened crater in the center of the alley, stood a large, energy blackened rubbish dumpster. The bang and clank of debris within it showed that something alive was now stirring inside the huge rubbish container. And then Iwao 'Cream Man' Oda, himself, slowly poked his shaven head above the rim of the dumpster, blinking at the bright sunlight pouring down upon him.

"Huh? It's daylight? So what the hell happened…?" he asked himself, rubbing his head with a bloodied hand. _"OW!_ That must have been _some bender_ that I was on, last night…? The last thing that I remember was…?"

Then it all came back to him with a blinding flash of memory. Him standing in the dark alley last night waiting for the blonde schoolgirl, the appearance of the strange, tall girl in the sailor suit… He had tried to grab her, she had…she had fired some sort of an energy ball at him…and that was all he could remember…!

_Well that would certainly explain this bloody great crater in the concrete here…! _He thought to himself, rubbing at the back of his shaven head again. _The fireball must have just missed me? Maybe the blast just threw me up into the air and down into this dumpster, putting me out for the count? And that tall girl must have missed seeing me falling in here because of the light from the blast stuffing up her eyesight…? Well, that's a stroke of luck; she probably thinks that I'm dead…! Good! Time for me to get the hell out of here…_

Carefully, 'Cream Man' Oda worked his battered, scratched body out of the rubbish dumpster, dropping with an assortment of scraps down onto the old mattress on the concrete below him. Rising back to his somewhat unsteady feet, he first carefully checked himself all over for injuries. To his relief, nothing appeared to be broken – his worst injury appeared to be a deep cut to his scalp and another similar one to his tattooed right arm. His left knee was sore, as was his neck and right shoulder and he seemed to be bruised all over, but apart from that he seemed to be just fine.

"All right! I'd best clean myself up a bit, then get the hell back to the bar for a wash and a beer or three…!"

Turning, the battered yakuza hit man dusted himself down as best as he could before hobbling back off towards where he had parked his car last night on the main street, some fifty meters away up the gently sloping alley.

_Yeah, after what happened here, I definitely need that drink…!_


	25. Chapter 25

_This is it - the last chapter! But - there _could _be more...? So if you enjoyed this story and want a continuation, then say so in a review. I have a few good ideas up my sleeve, and if enough people ask me nicely, there _will_ be a follow up - or maybe even two?._

-:-:-:-:-:-

**SAILOR MOON DEVASTATION  
**_**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**_

By Doctor-T

-:-:-:-:-:-

A pinpoint of intense white light suddenly flashed from the lowered Silence Glaive of Sailor Saturn, expanding into an all-enveloping glare that was brighter than the sun! The world turned to dazzling white and then…there was nothing. _Nothing at all._

_This is it!_ Sailor Moon cried out silently to herself, eyes squeezed tightly shut and locked tightly in the comforting arms of her loving new girlfriend, Sailor Venus. _We're all going to die, and then…we'll all wake up again, safe and secure in our own homes last Friday morning and none of this horror will have ever happened… Goodbye, cruel memories! Goodbye, Minako-chan…my sweet love… will we ever get back together again in the other timeline, just like we have now, I wonder…?_

But then, somehow, the deadly light of quantum level devastation began to contract in upon itself, to fade, to reverse the cycle of the absolute destruction of the earth and the entire solar system with it! The intensity of the light began to drop rapidly, the small group of cowering sailor scouts and cats reappeared out of the glare still alive and in one piece, and then the world was back to the way it had been before Sailor Saturn's Silence Glaive had been dropped. _Exactly the same as it had been before!_

"_What the heck?"_ Artemis cried out in wide-eyed astonishment, opening his eyes and gazing around at the shattered landscape around him with disbelief. "This timeline hasn't been destroyed – we're all still here and alive! But that's impossible…once Sailor Saturn drops her Silence Glaive the world is destroyed!"

"Hold on, Artemis," Luna spoke up, no less shocked than he was at their miraculous survival. "Sailor Saturn must have somehow been prevented at the last possible second from destroying this reality, but by who? The only being that I can think of powerful enough to negate the effects of the Silence Glaive is…?"

"Of course! _Sailor Pluto's father,_ _Chronos, the God of Time…!"_ Artemis yelled out, understanding dawning in his blue eyes. "Sailor Pluto _did_ tell us before she and Sailor Saturn disappeared that they weren't supposed to change any past events and that they were going to be punished severely for attempting it…!"

"But if they've already changed the events in our past so that Usagi was never attacked and the other sailor scouts are still all alive, then why is Chronos allowing the timeline that we are now in to still exist?" Luna asked, looking about as baffled as a cat could possibly be. "That just doesn't make sense…?"

"Yes, it does, Luna. This is the _real_ timeline, remember, and the events that have transpired here were the ones that were actually supposed to happen to us in the real world. Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn may have indeed saved Usagi from her fate and prevented this whole nasty yakuza war when they altered the events of last Friday. But since the real timeline here and now still exists, _and was supposed to exist,_ their actions must have instead caused an alternate timeline to branch away from this one last Friday, as well. That alternative timeline now exists _alongside_ – _and hasn't replaced_ - this one! Do you see what I'm talking about?"

"Yes, but the concept is very hard to grasp…"

"Put it this way – there are now _two_ timelines and we're still in the original one, the one that was destined for us – but we're in the _wrong _one, now, because we wanted to wake up in an unchanged world. Chronos banished Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn not only for attempting to meddle with our real future in this, the real timeline, but for also creating that alternative timeline last Friday. The only way that their alternative timeline could have totally replaced the real one, the one that we are in now, is if Sailor Saturn had succeeded in destroying this one. But Chronos has ensured that she has failed in her attempt to do so! And since Sailor Saturn has failed, we're all still stuck here. We'll never wake up in their newly changed and better world of last Friday night – the original, correct reality that we see about us is always going to be our world, now."

"_Oh, no!"_ Usagi cried out, her eyes flooding with inconsolable tears of anguish and regret. "So Ami-chan and Rei-chan and Mako-chan and Tuxedo Kamen – _my beloved_ _Mamo-kun!_ – and Yuichiro-san really are dead and gone forever, now? _No!_ That's too cruel, Artemis! That's just too cruel…!"

"I'm sorry, Usagi, Minako," he whispered back to the two crying sailor scouts as the shock of their now permanent loss set in. "If not even Sailor Pluto and Sailor Saturn can reverse these changes, then we're just going to have to accept that this is our new life, from now on…"

"So you think that Chronos prevented this timeline from being destroyed by Sailor Saturn?" Luna stated, looking puzzled. "The next question that we have to ask ourselves, Artemis, is _why…?_ Why have two timelines running simultaneously into earth's future, when only one will suffice?"

"The only theory that makes any sense to me is that maybe Chronos knows that this, the _real_ timeline, _can_ still be saved by us after all! But with the future King of Crystal Tokyo, Endymion, dead, along with Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter as well, I just don't see how that could be so…?"

"But since Chronos has ensured that we are all still existing in the here and now, there _must_ somehow be a way! Artemis, we're going to have to look into this in more detail once we get the time. But at the moment we're going to be far too preoccupied in dealing with the police and the JGSDF and trying to avoid the attention of the remaining yakuza to give your theory the attention that it deserves…"

"I concur, Luna. Our safety _must_ be our first priority."

"Yes. It's just a shame that we didn't consider the girls safety more _before_ this whole series of events even happened, Artemis," Luna sniffed out, deep regret in her red eyes. "If we had planned better earlier on, poor Rei and the others might still be alive?"

"_Who isn't still alive?"_ a very familiar voice suddenly called out to the despondent little circle from a short distance away!

"_That's Rei-chan's voice!"_ Usagi burst out incredulously, whirling around to face the direction in which the declaration had come from, her big blue eyes eagerly seeking its source. "I'd recognise that _demanding tone_ anywhere."

"_Rei-chan! Rei-chan!"_ Minako exclaimed with delighted relief, her smile as wide as her face. The others also let out gasps of joy at their companion's miraculous survival as Sailor Mars limped into sight, Yuichiro's battered helmet on her head and his bazooka slung across her back. A broad smile of greeting shone on Rei Hino's own face at finding them all still alive, after all. After seeing the white light flaring over the trees she had feared the worst!

"So who're you calling _'demanding', Odango head?"_ Rei shot back, her voice choked up with emotion at finding her friends again as Usagi and Minako ran forward to greet her. The weeping girls all warmly embraced each other, then Luna, Diana and Artemis, too, and then Rei was introduced to Vincent S. After that, explanations were in order.

After unslinging the bazooka and sitting down on a handy concrete slab to rest her injured foot, Sailor Mars first removed the oversized helmet from her head, and then told her very interested audience about all that had befallen her and Yuichiro the previous night after they had parted from their companions to go on their mission of vengeance. She detailed the hot pursuit of 'Cream Man' and his yakuza friend, and finally her disastrous attempt to kill him at the truck refuelling station.

"When those fuel tanks blew, my power to control fire and project it away from me protected me from the flames," Rei explained. "But the force of the explosion blew me up into the air for at least fifty metres, right up into the top branches of a tree in the nearby park! And my impact with the solid tree trunk must have knocked me out for almost half an hour, and it broke my wristwatch communicator as well so I couldn't call to you for help. When I recovered, I dropped back down to the ground again and I searched and searched, but there was no sign of poor Yuichiro-kun at all, except for the bazooka and his helmet…!" Rei's violet eyes burst into tears. "I couldn't find him, guys…! He's gone…and I think that it's forever…! _He…he must have been killed in the explosion and burnt up…?"_

As Rei's self control finally gave way under the stress of losing her boyfriend and she broke down into despairing sobs of pain and loss, both Usagi and Minako ran to her side and embraced her tightly. The girls hugged Rei's weeping form against themselves until she had cried it all out and finally managed to regain her composure.

"I'm sorry, guys," she sniffed. "But I just had to get that out of me… We've all lost so much. Our homes, our friends, our previous happy lives – _everything!"_

"I'm so sorry, Rei-chan," Sailor Moon whispered sorrowfully into her dear friend's ear. "Things are sure going to be different for us from now on…?"

"But we're all here for you, Rei-chan," Sailor Venus added. "And you can count on us to support you, no matter what!"

"Thanks, guys. I really appreciate it…"

"So what else happened to you last night, Rei?" Luna gently prompted her.

"Well, I knew that you all were going to head for Arisugawa Park, so after I had recovered a bit, I headed this way myself, as fast as I could on my twisted ankle," Rei continued, wiping at the tears in her eyes as she spoke. "But I couldn't make it here last night with my injuries, so I had to stop for a rest in an unlocked garden shed, and I must have accidentally fallen asleep. When I woke up this morning I heard the explosions and saw that strange black plane flying around, so I made a beeline for the action." She stopped talking momentarily and a thoughtful look appeared on her face as she remembered something else of interest to them.

"Hey, that reminds me? On the way, I found this yakuza guy in a funny looking helmet and camouflage suit aiming this huge rifle at you down here, so I took the time to toast him comprehensively!"

"That must have been _Oyabun_ Tanaka?" Luna stated with delight, looking at Sailor Mars with deep gratitude in her eyes. "Well done, Rei! You've just finished off the head of the Black Cap yakuza for us!"

"_Yay!"_ Usagi and Minako cheered mightily, and even Artemis couldn't suppress a whoop of joy at that unexpected stroke of good fortune.

Despite her sorrow at the loss of her boyfriend, Sailor Mars managed a slight grin at their enthusiastic response to her very satisfying news. "Well, after that," she continued, "There was this sudden white glow in the sky, so I hurried here as fast as I could. And here you all were…! _The end."_

"Well, that certainly fills in a few gaps for us, Artemis," Luna declared. "And at least we have got another of the sailor scouts safely back with us now. That makes three – but it should really have been four of our girls... But at least Sailor Mars managed to avenge Makoto's death earlier today at the hands of the _Oyabun…!"_

"_What?!"_ Rei cried out, her suddenly pale and shocked face erupting into tears again at Luna's words. "Are you saying that Mako-chan came back last night, and then got killed this morning?! No…_no!_ I didn't even get to see her again, or to even say goodbye…!"

Once Usagi and Minako had managed to calm her down into a coherent state again, Rei just sat there silently for a moment or two in the safe and comforting arms of her two remaining dear friends as she fought hard to compose herself once more after this latest cruel shock to her already battered system.

"At least poor Mako-chan got to see you guys again before she…passed away," she finally said with a loud sniffle. "And she did go down fighting, the way that she would have wanted to go, I guess…?"

"That's true," Usagi agreed unhappily, her blue eyes still moist from her own tears. "Mako-chan was very brave."

"Well, I think that we've all suffered enough pain and loss for one day?" Rei declared softly, infinite sadness in her voice. "Right now, I just want to get the heck out of here and go to a quiet place somewhere far away, where I and we can grieve in peace…!"

"Rei-chan's right, Luna," Minako said, her eyes turning to the nearer of their three guardian cats. "Over the last few days, I – and she – have been forced to fight almost constantly, and kill and kill again, time after time. Even though they _were_ enemies trying to do just that to us, what we were forced to do still doesn't sit quite right in my mind… It was a horrible experience, Luna, and we all do need to get the heck away from here, to reflect on what happened to us and to try to recover from the shock and pain of it all..."

"I understand, and both Artemis and I sympathize deeply with the ordeal all of you girls have been put through," Luna replied. "You do desperately need a break away from all of this death and destruction, there's no doubt about that at all…!"

"So what exactly are we all going to do, now…? Where can we go…?" Usagi asked, still holding tight to Rei, Minako's arms wrapped around them both.

"Well, the first thing that we're going to have to think about is finding a safe place for you girls to stay, well away from Tokyo," Luna decided, turning back from Artemis and Diana to the confused and upset looking trio of sailor scouts. "I think that all of you now realize that there's absolutely no way that you can safely go back to your homes, especially under _these_ dangerous circumstances. Even disregarding the police warrants out for the arrest of you sailor scouts, as long as the yakuza know who your real identities are it's just not safe – for either you or your families! Even though they've now lost their _Oyabun,_ the remaining yakuza are sure to target them if you try."

"So where do we go, Luna?" Minako asked slowly. "I've lived away from home before, but neither Rei-chan nor Bunny-chan have. And, since the police are after us as well, it sounds like we're going to have to get used to a life on the run, at least until we can find a safe haven to hide out in for awhile."

"Minako's right," Luna agreed, looking thoughtful. "Does anyone have any ideas as to where you girls can go and stay out of sight for the time being? And it can't be with a relative, either, the police and the yakuza are sure to check them out for any sign of you."

Rei Hino gave the matter some thought. And then, in a flash of inspiration, she remembered someone – a close friend who she hadn't seen for a long time. When she was eleven years old, she had made a good friend at her previous school. The girl had been a Shinto Shrine _Miko_ in training, like she herself had been at the time, and both girls had found out that they had a lot in common. But since Rei had started going to the Catholic Private Girls School, as per her now deceased mother's wish, they had lost touch with each other…

Now, what was her friend's name again? Oh, that's right, it was Motoko…Motoko Aoyama…? Yes, that was it. Motoko was the same age as her and was now living at a boarding house near a place called Hinata Hot Springs, or something like that, down on Sagami Bay in Kanagawa Prefecture. Her grandfather had mentioned this fact to her once – apparently, he knew the long-time owner of the establishment, one Granny Hina.

When they were younger, Motoko had always wanted Rei to go down and visit her during the holidays at her family's mountain shrine near Kyoto, that was at the time her home, but Rei had never had the chance. But now, nearly five whole years later…would Motoko even remember her? Well, there was only one way to find that out…!

"Hey, guys. I've got an idea about where we can go. It's a safe place out of Tokyo and I've got a friend there, but it's a fair way down south so we'd better find ourselves some transport…?"

"No worries, Rei-chan," Minako chuckled, her crystal blue eyes lighting up with anticipation as she remembered her little secret. "Bunny-chan and I have a cool car stashed away for an emergency just like this!"

"_Oh, no?"_ Usagi wailed, remembering all too well their hair-raising escape from the 'Happy Hour' bar. "You're not going to be driving me around _again,_ Minako-chan?"

"You bet! C'mon guys, let's go get it, right now, and then we can hit the road down to Sagami Bay! _Oboy, oboy! Road trip!"_

Luna and Artemis exchanged worried glances.

"What do you think, Artemis? It _would_ be a good idea for the girls to get out of town for a bit while we try to straighten this whole mess out with the police…?"

"Yeah, I agree," the white cat said, frowning as he thought. "And they'll attract much less attention if they do go by private car, rather than by bus or bullet train…!"

"_Please, please, Artemis?"_ Minako begged him, her blue eyes large and moist with emotion. "You _know_ that I can handle a car!"

"Is that true, Artemis?" Luna queried, looking skeptically at the pleading, hand wringing blonde sailor girl.

"Actually, yes. And Minako isn't a bad driver, either," he admitted with a touch of pride. "Despite her age back then, she used to drive cars all the time when we were in England."

"If I understand correctly, in England they drive on the left hand side of the road and they do here in Japan, as well?" Luna pointed out. "_Not_ on the right hand side of the road, like they do in America. Does she know that?"

"_Ah? Heh, heh…!"_ Minako mumbled red-faced to the shocked, accusing face of Usagi! "But I thought that I had to drive on the side of the road where the steering wheel was nearest to the center line? So _that's_ why all the other cars were heading towards us on the wrong side of the road the other night…?"

"What was that, Minako?" Luna asked, swivelling an ear in her direction.

"_Oh, nothing, nothing…!"_ Minako hastily reassured the curious black cat. "I just told Bunny-chan that I have to drive on the _wrong _side of the road, _not _on the right! _Yeah, that's it…heh, heh…!"_

"It's fine with me," Artemis declared, having a great deal of faith in his well-trained young charge. "You can go." Immediately he was scooped up by the wildly grateful Minako and subjected to a barrage of kisses. "Yeah, yeah, you love me! I get the message, Minako! Save some of that energy for the drive, willya?"

"Well, okay then," Luna said, somewhat mollified by Artemis's words, although she still looked only half convinced at the wisdom of Minako actually behind the wheel of a car. "But if you get any traffic tickets, I'm not paying them for you. And don't forget to pick up Rei's clothes from the Crown Game Center before you go!"

"_Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, Luna,"_ Minako bubbled, almost jumping up and down with delight. "We'll phone you as soon as we arrive there and find a place to stay. And we'll give you both our new address and phone number so that you can contact us anytime."

"Good. And just be careful, you three! Change back into your normal selves before you go back to the Game Center and disguise yourselves with your pens so that you look nothing at all like you normally do. And when you get to Minako's car, no speeding, drinking or picking up hitchhikers, either. You're all on the run, remember, so you have to be as inconspicuous as possible. If the police find you, they may blow your cover!"

"Got it, Luna," Rei said. "And we'll be very careful, I promise. Oh, man, it'll be good to get out of town and just relax for awhile, after all that's happened to us…"

_She's right,_ Luna thought sadly. _The girls desperately need some time out to heal… We've lost so many friends…!_

"Okay, then, you'd best get going?" Artemis said, a lump in his throat. "The rest of us will stay behind here, get to a place of safety and try to smooth things over with the authorities. So, good luck and Godspeed to all of you."

"Thanks, Artemis," Minako said, giving him a final hug before placing him back down onto the ground. "Hey, I just thought of something? Except for Rei-chan, all that Bunny-chan and I've got now are the clothes on our backs, and it's too dangerous to go back to our homes to get any more of our stuff. Do you – _ah_ – do you have any money that you can lend us? We'll need it for food and petrol and to pay for accommodation as well, you see…?"

"Does it _look_ like I've got any money on me at the moment, Minako?" Artemis told her. "I'm a cat! Where, exactly, are my pockets to keep it?"

"Oh? _A-ha, ha, ha...!_ Yeah, sorry…?"

"I don't have much money, either," Rei stated, looking frustrated. "And you're always broke, too, Bunny-chan. What are we going to do, guys? We can't leave town without any money!"

Vincent S had been content to just stand back and watch the proceedings. However at the girls' financial predicament, he cleared his throat and stepped forward, his right hand digging into his trench coat pocket on that side.

"Ahem! Here you go, ladies. I've got plenty, so take this to help you out for a while. And take this charge card as well. Its got a pre-loaded credit limit of two million yen so you shouldn't run out of purchasing power with this for awhile."

"_Two million yen?"_ all three girls gasped out as Usagi accepted the thick wad of money and card in a very shaky hand.

"Wow! Are you sure that you want to give us all of this money?" Minako added. "Don't take that as a sign that we don't want it, of course!"

"Yeah, no problem. I've got an unlimited credit limit here in Japan because of the organization that I work for. Give me a couple of hours and I'll have all of that money back again, and more."

"Gee, thanks, Vincent-sama. You're a pal!" Minako replied for the appreciative trio of starry-eyed girls.

"No worries. But now, you'd all better get going. It'd be best if you're well on your way before the police can get around to putting up too many roadblocks."

"But what about you, Vincent-san?'' Minako objected. "How are you going to escape the police since you've been helping us fight the yakuza? You will be in serious trouble, too, if they catch you."

"Don't worry about me," he laughed. "As far as I know, the police don't even know that I'm involved. It's you three that they're all after, not me. So you all just take care?"

"We will, I promise," she told him with real feeling. "You do that too."

All three sailor scouts gave him a big, grateful hug of farewell, doing the same to both Artemis and Luna as well. Then, after transforming back into their civilian forms, Rei placed Yuichiro's helmet back onto her head and re-slung the bazooka.

"Ah, are you sure that you want to take that bazooka and helmet with you, Rei?" Luna asked her, staring doubtfully at the double encumbrance. "Artemis can store it safely away for you, if you like?"

"No, it'll be fine, Luna," Rei reassured her. "The bazooka and this helmet are all that I've got left now to remind me of poor Yuichiro-kun. I'd like to keep it with me, if it's all the same to you…?'

"Okay, fine," Artemis said, sympathizing with her soul deep pain. "And if you need to talk to us, you always know how to reach us – all of you."

"Thanks, Artemis, Luna. Well, we'd best be off to collect this car of Minako-chan's…? Goodbye, and thanks for everything."

With a final wave, the trio of teary-eyed girls turned and walked away towards their new and far different future.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Far, far, far away in deep space, Pluto and Saturn hurtled on, hand in hand, the wormhole created by the god Chronos speeding them away from the rapidly receding solar system behind them into the great depths of the unknown. Faster and faster they sped through the endless black void, twisting and turning, now speeding past alien stars and through other strange, wild and beautiful solar systems, through the wispy expanse of nebulae, totally lost in the vast, frightening gulf of nothingness. On and on they would travel, their home planet now hundreds of light years behind them, until they reached their unknown destination – _if_ they ever did…!

Would Setsuna and Hotaru see the blue-green world that held the Princess that they both loved so dearly ever again? Both outer senshi desperately hoped so. But in the meantime, at least they still had each other.

And they had one other hope. Knowing what her fate would be for her actions, Sailor Pluto had set into motion a secret contingency plan for this very situation. But it was a _very_ long shot at the best.

Would it work?

_Only time would tell._

-:-:-:-:-:-

Only a few miles away from the departing sailor scouts, one last remnant of the feared Black Cap Yakuza gang was encountering his own share of problems. Iwao _'Cream Man'_ Oda was sure that he must have had a worse day than this one, but he was damned if he could remember just when? After recovering from his fall last Monday night whilst underground in the tunnel next to the burnt out truck stop gas station, he had discovered that the other man there with him hadn't made it. Then, he had found to his annoyance that a huge mass of blackened debris was blocking his escape path out of the tunnel back up to the forecourt of the destroyed building. It didn't help matters for him when he had discovered that all of the other manhole covers nearby had been securely locked, either. All in all, it had taken him two whole days to find his way back out of the underground labyrinth and back up to street level again.

So it was Thursday morning when he finally emerged from an unlocked manhole back up into the bright Tokyo sunlight – to stare with blinking eyes upon a much different landscape than he had last seen two days ago.

Apparently the gas station hadn't been the only building destroyed during the battle against the sailor senshi on Monday night – not by a long shot. Several major fires had blazed through the streets of Juuban, and in some locations, black columns of smoke could still be seen as twisting smudges rising above the cityscape into the hazy sky.

Very carefully, over the course of the next couple of hours, 'Cream Man' had managed to work his way back on foot to the vicinity of the 'Happy Hour' bar. He had to be very careful whilst doing so because police patrols and even heavily armed army patrols from the JGSDF 1st Division, out of Nerima, Tokyo, seemed to be everywhere on the streets. So were a profusion of fire engines, road workers, rescue crews and ambulance crews.

The exhausted yakuza hit man had somehow finally managed to reach his destination without being discovered, only to find the bar an ashy pile of twisted, blackened, burnt out cinders. No rest and respite for him there, he had realized with a mixture of surprise, tiredness and bitterness.

_We have taken a real pasting, all right! Now, what'll I do…?_

As he slumped down onto the steps of a nearby shop in search of inspiration, the jangling of a set of keys in his coat pocket suddenly jogged his memory. He still had his own car parked up in the lot out the back of the destroyed headquarters! Leaping to his feet again, he made his way carefully through the mounds of burnt out debris littering the side alley to the still intact parking lot behind the flattened building. Once there, he found to his delight that his car – fortuitously parked at the roadside end of the parking lot - had been totally untouched by the fierce conflagration that had totally consumed the bar and its surrounds.

"Now there's a stroke of luck, at last! I'll get on the radio stashed inside and see if I can find out where everyone got to…?"

But after a quarter of an hour of fruitless calling to every member of the Black Cap yakuza who he could think of whom owned a two-way radio transmitter, 'Cream Man' finally gave it up. Unbelievable as it might sound to him, it seemed to be more and more likely that he might be the only member of the gang still alive and un-incarcerated…!

_What the hell had happened to them all? Man, I'd best get outta here. Maybe the sailor senshi are still looking for me, and if they are this'll be one of the first places that they'll look!_

Starting up his powerful car, the hit man drove out of the parking lot, turning the front of the car down the road in the direction of the expressway that led to Kabukicho. Since he couldn't raise any of the local branch members of the gang, he figured that he would find out all that he needed to know about what had gone down from the main headquarters of the Black Cap Yakuza, which was based there.

With shocking suddenness, the radio buzzed loudly on the seat next to him! 'Cream Man' jumped involuntarily at the sudden sound, then snatched up the offending device and pushed the talk button.

"'Cream Man' here," he spoke into the radio's microphone. "Who the hell is this?"

"'_Cream Man'?!_ It's me, _'Nampa'."_

"'_Nampa'?_ What the hell is going on? I get knocked out for two days, and when I get back to the 'Happy Hour' bar, the whole fucking place has been burnt down! _Shateigashira_ Fujimori-sama and the others have disappeared and I can't raise anyone, anywhere!"

"I was wondering what happened to you?" the voice of his friend spoke urgently. "Listen, 'C.M.', you gotta get the hell out of Tokyo, right now! Things have really got fucked up over the last couple of days. Half of the 'Black Caps' are dead, the others, who knows? If you're in a vehicle now, just keep on driving, okay?"

"Yeah, but what the hell happened?"

"The bloody sailor senshi, that's what. As you know, they came down on us like a ton of bricks last Monday night. Whoever planned it knew what the hell they were doing, too. The 'Happy Hour' got blown to hell and gone by Sailor Saturn and her Silence Glaive, most of the _shabu _warehouses got taken out too, and so did Main HQ on Yasukuni Dori Avenue in Kabukicho!"

"_Fuck me!!_ But what happened to _Oyabun_ Tanaka-sama?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, 'C.M'. But the sailor senshi are only part of our worries. The cops are spitting tacks – they've got orders to arrest anyone - both us _and_ them - that they can catch. The cops think that the sailor senshi have lost the plot, so they're now on Japan's most wanted list too. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police HQ's Special Assault Team has been called out to do the job and they're armed to the teeth. So have units of the JGSDF. Half of fucking Juuban is in flames as you can probably see!"

"You're not joking, 'Nampa'," 'Cream Man' shot back, his eyes falling on yet another column of black smoke arising from another destroyed building. "From what I can see, here, now, a bunch of our safe houses have taken a pounding too…_hold on! There's a bloody police roadblock up ahead!_ Give me a second, I've gotta get the hell off this street…!"

Once it was safe to talk again on the long-range radiophone and drive at the same time, the incredulous 'Cream Man' Oda immediately took up the threads of the depressing conversation where he had left off.

"'Nampa'? You there?"

"Yup. You in the clear?"

"So far…! Listen, I can tell that we got well done over, but what about the sailor senshi? Did we manage to take out any of them?"

"_Ah,_ I dunno, and that's a fact. I was at the 'Happy Hour' when it got hit and I managed to get out through the underground storm drain out back in the alley. Sailor Saturn came down out of the sky in a rainstorm and just levelled the place! I know she took a couple of hits, but they sure didn't seem to have much effect on that witch. Sailor Mars was there, too – I saw her take a shell as well, she seemed to stagger, then got up and just fried the ruins of the building. As that happened, I dropped down through the manhole and got the hell outta there!"

"They're all probably bloody near on bullet-proof, to ordinary guns, anyway?" 'Cream Man' mused out loud in a worried tone. "We need something heavier to even the score – like _'Popeye',_ your AS-50 Sniper Rifle, like the one that _Oyabun_ Tanaka-sama has…! Hey, have you still got it with you?"

"Yeah, I left it in the trunk of my car, Kami-sama be thanked! But I saw the way things were going and knowing that the cops would hunt everybody down even remotely connected with that fiasco, I kept on driving and got the hell out of town two days ago, before too many roadblocks got set up."

"Yeah, that's not a bad idea," 'Cream Man' admitted, not liking at all what he had so far seen and heard about the fate of his hapless comrades in the Black Cap yakuza. "I'd best amscray, too, I think? Hey, 'Nampa', where the heck are you now, anyway?"

"Down south a bit. I'm down in Hinata Hot Springs on Sagami Bay in Kanagawa Prefecture. I've got a cousin living here, and I'm hiding out with her. So my advice to you is to get your ass down here ASAP, and you can hang out with me here, too."

"That sounds like a plan to me. So where are you staying in Hinata Hot Springs? A hotel?"

"Better than that, C.M…! _Much better._ My cousin, Mitsune Konno, lives at the Hinata Apartments – just cross the old wood and stone bridge when you get to Hinata Hot Springs and you can't miss it. It's a huge wooden building on the hill, with grey stone steps leading up to it. It's just recently been turned back into an Inn again."

"Hey, you said that your cousin's a girl?" 'Cream Man' stated, eyes widening with interest. "What's she like?"

"Yeah. You'd like her, she's a real babe and she drinks almost as much as we do. Bottles of liquor all over her room. And check this out. The place is actually a women's dormitory as well, and it has a bunch of the cutest girls staying here that you ever did see! And they got a bloody large, heated thermal pool here, too! So, I think that you can already see the possibilities…? _Ha, ha, ha, ha!"_

"_All right!"_ 'Cream Man' whooped out over the radio to his friend, releasing the steering wheel momentarily to smack his hard right fist into the palm of his left hand with glee. "That's the best news that I've heard since I woke up! Keep all those girls warm for me, willya, and keep your cute cousin's best bottle of whiskey in a safe place for me as well. You and me, we got us some partying to do with her and the others when I get there!"

"Roger. You 'all hurry, now. And watch your ass! You'll be here in a day or two?"

"Probably, two, or even three. I'd best be _very_ careful. But after what you just told me, I'll be there even if I have to walk all of the way to the Hinata Apartments by night, on foot! I'll be seeing ya soon!"

-:-:-:-:-:-

In a darker dimension, separated from our own reality by only the thinnest gossamer wall of quantum fabric, the cold wind blew dejectedly through an abandoned, derelict campsite. Gusts and eddies of dust laden wind swirled through the collapsing hide shelters and stone fire pits, and around and over a huge pile of misshapen bones and scraps of dirt-caked leather, slowly burying the pitiful animal remains beneath a newly forming sand dune.

Amongst the sand blasted signs of death, two large jewels suddenly sparkled forlornly amongst the heap of discarded feast remnants. One glowed a soft white, the other a much deeper blue. The two souls trapped inside the discarded gems slept peacefully on, unknowingly awaiting their uncertain future resurrection. Then an errant dust devil swirled past the slowly growing mound, burying the two lonely star seeds into their decaying prison once more…

**THE END**


End file.
